The Unbreakable Curse
by tr1ckydr1v3r
Summary: Set after KHII. Sora and his freinds have all returned to their homes. But little does he know, his greatest challenge may be waiting around the corner. One he may not come out alive from. Vampire Fic. Chapter 20 was beta'd by Tuba Bean aka KHfanatic.
1. Chapter 0: Prologue

**Authors Note:** Well, my first fanfic. I'll see about keeping up with updates, but don't expect an update a day. In fact, don't expect, just be patient and wait.

Anyway, on with the story.

**Chapter 0: Prologue**

'_Do you believe in vampires?_

_I'm guessing you don't. After all, who'd believe in the 'undead'? An advanced species of humans biting other humans and draining them of their blood just to stay alive… and strong._

_The reason I ask is because… if you don't… then I'll make you a believer._

_Firstly, the facts. They don't have to bite humans to stay alive. They can go on forever without a single drop for however long. The truth is, when you're a vampire, you are either weak or strong. If you never take blood, you will be almost as weak as a newborn baby. If you keep up your blood intake… There is very little beyond you._

_They can fly, as some stories claim, but not like a bird could. They can't float in the air forever and ever. They have to hit the ground eventually. It's more like gliding, or 'riding the airwaves' as some call it. While they can fly upwards, it would take a lot of experience and strength just to reach the second floor._

_And that's another thing. If you think they are invincible and impervious to everything, you know nothing. Vampires have limits. There is no point in having all that strength if they can't control it. Vampires can be killed (eventually by normal tactics, such as shooting them with a normal gun, but you'd use up a lot of ammo before they died. That's why other methods are usually advised)._

_A silver bullet through the head or heart will kill them almost instantaneously. Nut silver is hard to manufacture into a bullet._

_Sunlight can also kill them, but for stronger vampires, it takes time. Some are even so strong, that they are impervious to the l_

_Stakes and holy water do not work. That's all a bunch of lies; some vampires think it may have been made up just to claim they were the devil's soldiers._

_They were half right._

_Secondly, their mindset. Vampires act of their own accord. They have a will of their own, going so far as to be given the choice of whether they will use their powers for good or evil. While some take pleasure in killing innocent humans, others take pleasure in dealing out justice on those vampires (Vampires can also take their own brethrens blood as a substitute for human blood. There is no known difference)._

_One thing that is a controlling factor is hunger. While vampires never have to eat, breathe, sleep or do many other human things, they do feel an 'urge' to take blood from others, be it a vampire or a human. No vampire is exempt from this. You either control it or you are under control of it._

_Last, but not least, becoming a vampire. It isn't as simple as being bitten. This further attributes to the belief that vampires have always existed, but behind closed curtains. For example, if a male and female vampire mate, a full vampire is born if the female becomes pregnant. If you are human and are bitten, but manage to get some blood flowing through you, you become a half-vampire. If you are bitten and all your blood is drained, you become a Ghoul (Ghouls are in Hellsing, check it yourself). Ghouls have no will, and are controlled by the vampire that made them that way. If you become a Ghoul, you lose many of your facial features as your body dries up at an intense speed. Ghouls can be referenced to as acting like 'zombies'. _

_One more thing though. If you are bitten, you become a half-vampire, but some vampires have developed a drug that makes you a full vampire. The reason they made this drug is because half-vampires are usually always weaker than full-vampires._

_So… now that you've read all this, you're probably asking yourself… how do I know all this?_

_The reason is… because…_

_I am one of them.'_

**End Chapter**

**Authors note: **So, what do you think? I'm not sure what to think, I haven't written anything in a year. And that was just for school. Please Read & Review, but I will continue to write regardless, so it's not like I am demanding reviews to continue writing.

P.S. I don't have it panned out in my head how this is gonna go, so suggestions are welcome.

FYI, this is centred on Kingdom Hearts (the series, not just the first game).


	2. Chapter 1: Eyes Of The Darkness

**Authors Note: **You're probably wondering what this has to do with Kingdom Hearts, but it will all come clear in the next two chapters, starting with this one. I wrote this almost immediately after I wrote the first one, so I'm willing myself to write this, because I've had it in my head for so long, I wanna get it onto paper at last.

P.S. Yuffie, Leon, and Aerith moved onto Destiny Islands if you are wondering why they are there (in this chapter).

**Chapter 1: Eyes of The Darkness**

Destiny Islands – Midday

On the beach, the crashing of waves and sounds of a few children playing was all that could be heard. For Sora, falling asleep on the sandy cove was too easy.

But it only took one to wake him up.

"Sora, stop sleeping!"

"Whoa!" Sora sprang up and looked in the direction of the voice. Standing behind him was Kairi, with an annoyed look on her face.

"What is with you sleeping in the day? Save it for the night, when your friends don't wanna play!"

"Uunngh…" Sora had been having a good nap, and was noticeably tired. "But Kairi, I'm-"

"Don't start, I was just kidding. But seriously, you shouldn't be sleeping at this time of day. Now come on, Tidus and the others wanna play volleyball, and my team is one person short. You up for it?"

"Only if you carry me, Kairi."

"Nah, I was thinking more along the lines of dragging you!"

Sora was unable to react as she suddenly grabbed his leg and dragged him across the beach, his head hitting a few pebbles and rocks on the way.

"Why not –Ow! Why not get Riku?"

"Because, silly, he's working! He's an adult, you're still 17, get over it."

"Aww…"

She continued to drag Sora, ignoring his pleas and promises that he'd walk. She didn't notice the tall silver-haired figure standing beside the rocky crevice.

"You know, it's no wonder Sora sleeps during the day, with you dragging him like that."

"Huh?" Kairi said as she turned, and her eyes met Riku's.

"Oh, Riku! Save me! I have a headache from all the rocks in the sand!" Sora pleaded, not realising he had a small gash on his right cheek.

Riku looked up at Kairi, then down at Sora, who had his hands clasped together in prayer. Riku gave a devilish smile.

"Okay then, I'll make it easier for ya!"

Riku ran to Kairi's side and grabbed Sora's other leg, and they then continued waling towards the volleyball net, with Sora wailing and struggling needlessly.

"So why are you here? I thought you had work, Riku?" Kairi questioned Riku.

"Err… let's talk about it later, okay?" Riku said nervously.

"You didn't get fired, did you?"

"What? NO! Of course not! Why would that happen?"

"Dunno, maybe you let someone drown in the pool? You are a lifeguard, after all."

"No I did not do anything bad; it's just… something weird, and horrific." Riku said the last part with seriousness in his voice. "Anyway, I'm not allowed to talk about it, so quit asking."

"Uh, okay, if you say so- hey, look!"

They had reached the volleyball field, where Tidus, Selphie and Wakka were facing Yuffie all by her lonesome.

"So much for the great ninja Yuffie!" Tidus shouted as he hit the ball towards her side of the field.

"Well by the looks of things, I am holding you off! I mean come on! There are 3 of you and 1 of me! Those are not equal odds, are they?"

"Shut up!" Tidus shouted back as he hit the ball full force towards her. This time, Yuffie was not so lucky. She got hit square in the head and it bounced off her onto the soft sand below.

"Ow! Unfair!" Yuffie complained.

"All's fair in love and war!" Tidus proclaimed with his back turned to the opposing side. He didn't notice Kairi pick up the ball and smack it at him. He got hit in the back of the head, and he got a shock from it. He turned and saw it was now 4 on 3, if you counted Riku and Sora.

"And this ain't love!" Kairi finished the saying for Tidus, leaving her mark on him.

"4-on-3 is unfair, so take someone out of the pitch." Selphie complained.

"Or add someone onto the pitch."

"Huh?" everyone said at the same time. They turned to see Leon and Aerith walking their way.

"Leon! Yuffie!" Sora said as he stood up to greet them.

"Yeah, now he gets up cause' all his friends are here." Riku mumbled under his breath. _'But I guess that has always been what makes him strong, and it also makes us all strong.'_

Riku had always admired Sora. He was 17, but he was still full of innocence. He always wondered how Sora could be so childish and carefree at such an important time in his life, when he was on the verge of turning 18. He flunked out of high school (because he kinda disappeared for nearly 2 years while fighting the heartless) and hasn't done anything since. He's just played games with his friends. It worried Riku, because he lived alone (Riku pays gives him part of his payroll) and had no-one to take care of him. What would he be like when he became an adult and had to get a job? He would need to stop being the carefree Sora, and get serious. But, knowing Sora since they were newborns, he was thinking that would never happen, and that was good and bad.

Riku's thoughts were interrupted by a ball bouncing off his head, leading to Sora looking at him with a confused stare.

"Come on, dopehead! Get your brain in the game!" Sora said.

"Oh! Sorry, Sora. They won't win again!"

"We'll see about that, ya!" Wakka proclaimed.

They continued to play volleyball, as their laughter and screams of joy could be heard on the other side of the island. But little did they know, they were being watched.

Unknown Location

"_So, this is where they all live now."_

"_So it would seem. But most importantly, our primary target is completely oblivious to the danger he is in."_

"_As are all the others. Tell me, shall we kidnap them and use them as bait?"_

"_No, too frustrating. And the gunblade that friend carries is made of silver, one of our… weaknesses."_

"_You know the old saying… The weapon is useless if you don't know how to use it. They don't know what we are, so they won't think to go straight for that vital point…"_

"_And their innocence will be their demise. I doubt any of them have it in them to kill a living creature."_

"_Who said we were living?"_

"_So true, my brother. So true. And soon, Sora, you won't be either."_

**End of Chapter**

**Author's Note:** Cliff-hanger! Well, it's as much as I could do to build the suspense for the next chapter. So, I hope you like it, and I will post the third chapter when it's ready, but until then, please R&R, I would really appreciate your comments/ideas!

Tr1cky out.


	3. Chapter 2: The New Blood

**Authors Note: **Still no reviews? Damn. But you people are reading, so… please review. It lets me know if this is worth it. I don't care if you hate it or love it, just please review.

**Chapter 2: The New Blood**

Destiny Islands – 11:00pm

It was getting late, and the only ones still up were the adults, and a few mischievous teens, notably Sora and pals. He, Tidus and Leon were sitting around playing videogames while Aerith kept contemplating how to get the kids to go to bed (Tidus' parents had disappeared a long time ago mysteriously and were never found, so Aerith and Leon, who had moved onto Destiny Islands around that time, took care of him), remembering that even though they were nearly adults (Except Leon, who IS an adult), they were still under 18, and had to do as they were told.

"Alright, you three, break it up. Sora, I'm not kidding now, go home. And no, you can't sleepover again. Now get ready and go, if you know what I mean."

By that she meant just leave, after all he lived a couple of seconds away from Tidus, but she knew Sora definitely preferred being around friends. Tidus and Sora had gotten to be very close friends in the past few years as they had been spending a lot of time together. While the bond they shared was nowhere near as strong as the bond Sora, Kairi and Riku all shared, their friendship was strong enough. The main reason was because Sora hung round with him more now that Riku went to work, and Kairi in college (She didn't disappear as long as the others), and when Tidus' parents went missing, Riku told him to look to Sora for comfort. And he didn't disappoint. They were almost like 3 brothers.

(P.S. Riku and Sora live together, and Sora's parents live on the other side of the island.)

Sora opened the front door and made his presence known.

"Riku! I'm back-!" Sora suddenly remembered that it was late at night, approaching midnight, and Riku might be in bed. He kept his mouth shut as he crept up to Riku's room… and found nothing. Riku wasn't there. But he had left a note. By the look of it, he meant to put it on the front door.

'Sora, I'm working late tonight. In case you don't sleep over at a friend's house, I left some food in the oven for you. If it's past 10:00, then it's probably cold and inedible by now. Sorry.

-Riku'

"Dammit, Riku, I could have easily made my own food. I'm 17."

Sora felt sleep taking over as he tried to make his way up the stairs. He slumped down on his bed, and without bothering to change clothes (Except kick off his shoes), he quickly falls asleep, but not without turning out the light.

Nearby, a hooded figure watched Sora through the window very carefully. He whispered to himself;

"Target is asleep. Let's do this."

"Got It." Another replied. But no-one else heard it. It was loud enough to be heard, but it was silent enough to fall on deaf ears.

Slowly, the unknown person walked towards the window. He stood for a few seconds before he finally walked right through it, like it wasn't there. He looked at Sora, and smiled, a pair of fangs gleaming in the moonlight.

Tidus, in the adjacent house, had yet to fall asleep, and decided to go outside to the balcony. He looked out at the moon and gave that childish smile he always did, and uttered,

"Goodnight Sora." He said it quietly in case others were asleep. But as he turned to look at Sora's house, he noticed a cloaked, hooded person standing in Sora's room. At first, he thought it was Sora, trying to freak him out, as he knew Tidus had a balcony overlooking their back gardens, but it wasn't Sora. This guy was much taller than Sora ever was.

Tidus' eyes turned to the Sora, who was asleep, and vulnerable to attack.

"Oh crap!" Tidus ran out his door to get to Sora.

But the person was on top of Sora now, still avoiding awaking the child.

Tidus dashed towards his front door, until Leon's voice stopped him.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Leon asked.

"No time to talk, I saw some hooded guy in Sora's room!"

"Oh come on, am I really gonna fall for that?"

"Please, I'm not kidding! I think Sora might be in trouble!" Leon was about to retort, but he saw Tidus' face, and realised Tidus was very serious.

"If you're lying, then you are definitely grounded. I'll get my Gunblade, and you go make sure there really is someone there."

Almost immediately, Tidus ran towards Sora's front door and realised it was left open. He ran up to Sora's bedroom and kicked open the door, to find that the hooded figure had been waiting for him, with Sora, somehow still asleep, in his grasp.

"Well, this is unexpected. An Interference." He said mockingly, but Tidus wasn't afraid.

"Let him go."

"And what can you do, ya little pipsqueak? You couldn't harm me if you wanted to."

"That won't stop me from trying!" Tidus pulled out his weapon and gave the person a smack around the head with it. But he was unaffected by it. "What the… that was a direct hit!"

"We are not… your kind of people. We're not weak and useless." He laughed, putting Tidus in an even bigger mood. Tidus hadn't noticed Sora beginning to stir, but the hooded figure was aware. "Whoops, looks like he's awake." Sora quickly came into realisation about what was happening, and tried to break free, but he couldn't get out of the seemingly iron grip of this unknown figure.

"Hey! Lemme go, damn it!"

"Oh I'll let you go… to hell!"

Suddenly, and abruptly, he bit down on Sora's neck, causing Sora to squeal for a split second, and then abruptly go silent. His eyes went wide, visibly showing intense pain as the man sucked his lifeblood from him. Tidus was too frightened to say anything but a muttering, nearly silent.

"What… what are you…"

He didn't speak.

"It can't be… vampires… they don't… exist…"

The vampire continued to suck on Sora's neck wound. Tidus noticed Sora's eyes were beginning to turn grey, slowly but visibly.

Suddenly, Leon burst through the bedroom door.

"Let him go, you vermin!" Leon shouted. Seeing that the vampire didn't react, he slashed at him. The vampire stood his ground, thinking he could take it, but he forgot the Gunblade was made of silver, and let out an ear-piercing scream, dropping Sora to the ground, who immediately grasped his wound, trying to stop the bleeding. But before anyone could react, the vampire grabbed Sora and jumped out through the window, this time smashing it because of what he had in tow. The vampire misinterpreted the jump, however, and fell down to the ground below.

"Sora!" Leon shouted. "Come on! They're round the back!" Tidus looked like he was gonna jump down, but Leon stopped him. "No, Tidus, it's too far down. You'll only hurt yourself."

"But what about-" He complained, but was quickly cut off by Leon.

"Maybe that freak broke Sora's fall." Leon din't say another word.

Unfortunately, Leon was wrong in his guess. Sora had taken more of the fall than his attacker had, and he was unable to move, not only because the guy was on top of him, but because he still felt like he was getting weaker by the second. He probably had a concussion, but he soon noticed that the attacker had an open wound. It wasn't bad, but the blood was dripping onto Sora face. He tried to move away from it, but it just seemed to never end. But when his tongue caught the blood, he suddenly felt a shock to his head. Nothing had hit him, but it felt like he had been in a head-on car crash. It tasted so weird.

But at the same time… it tasted like nothing he'd ever tasted before.

Sora suddenly felt an urge to taste more of this blood. He wasn't sure what he was doing, but he slowly lifted his head up to the wound, and then he dug his teeth into it, and began to suck the blood from the vampire. Sora quickly came to his senses, and threw his head back (which wasn't a smart idea as he was close enough to the concrete, but it didn't matter) and tried to spit out the blood, but the deed was done, he had just drank blood.

"What… what am I?" Sora ran his tongue along his upper teeth and discovered fangs. Not fake plastic ones people used at Halloween, real sharp ones. So sharp Sora cut his tongue lightly on one.

"No way. I'm a vampire? But they don't exist!" He shoved the vampire off him, but suddenly, he reacted and grabbed Sora by the throat.

"Way to fall right into my trap. Welcome to the family." He stood up like the wound was nothing.

"See ya around, bro." He threw Sora to the dumpster (literally) and ran off.

"Ungh…" Sora tried to stand.

"Hey Sora! You alright?" He heard a distant voice that sounded like Leon shout.

"Sora?!" Tidus shouted as they ran toward him. Tidus and Leon went to check on him.

"Don't try to move, Sora. You've just had a nasty fall. We'll carry you." Leon reassured him as they picked him up. Sora looked at Leon's neck. So easy… he wouldn't feel a thing…

Sora shook his head, trying to get those thoughts out of his head.

Suddenly, he felt a massive pain in his heart. It made him want to scream, but he could only moan in pain as he fell out of consciousness. What Sora didn't know was that his heart had just stopped beating.

It had stopped beating for good.

**End Chapter**

So, there you go. I might have time to write the next chapter tomorrow, but no guarantees, so wait and see. R&R please.


	4. Chapter 3: Not So Easy Anymore

**Authors Note:** So far, so good. Thanks for the reviews. They are appreciated. Now for the next chapter.

**Chapter 3: Not So Easy Anymore**

Destiny Islands, Sora's House – 2:00am

Sora came to in his bedroom, and could hear the whispering of his friends… wait, whispering? They wouldn't whisper that loud, would they? Maybe they were right next to him, though. As he began to sit up, eyes still closed, he heard someone breathe a sigh of relief

"No way…" Leon said, but was interrupted by a punch to the back

"Don't worry us like that! I thought you said he was dead!" Tidus screamed.

"But… I felt his pulse, and there was nothing, I'm not lying!" Leon defended himself, but Aerith was giving him a look that meant 'shut up'.

"Hey Sora, you alright?" Tidus asked him, literally in his face. But he was used to this, so he wasn't frightened, so Sora didn't flinch.

"Yeah, I feel… fine?" Sora questioned himself as he opened his eyes. He had taken a massive fall, a bite wound to a main artery in his neck, and he felt great?

"Whoa…" Tidus got a shock and took a step back, frightened at what he saw. Sora's eyes were blood red, no longer the light blue they had always been. But Sora didn't know… yet.

"What? What is it?" He was still oblivious to it.

"Your eyes… Look in the mirror." Sora did just that and was surprised at what he saw. The colour of his eyes was the same as the vampire that attacked him.

'What the hell?' he mouthed, but didn't speak.

"Sora why are your eyes red, and more importantly, how that hell are you in such a good condition after what happened a few hours ago?"

"I… don't really know." Should he tell his friends that he drank blood? That he may be a vampire? No. Sora decided to hold back. "All I remember is falling out of the room and that's it." Sora lied, fearing what they may think if he told them. But he gave the game away as he gave that childish smile he had been perfecting all his life.

"Sora, you have fangs."

Although Sora knew this, he played dumb and licked his tongue along his teeth to check. They weren't wrong, and what had happened wasn't a dream.

"You don't think?" Tidus said.

"It… couldn't be... vampires don't exist…" Leon said, and everyone had worried expressions on their faces.

"Unnh…" Sora put both hands on his head, moaning in pain. He could hear their heartbeats, and it was like being constantly hit in the head with multiple hammers.

"Sora?" Leon asked, thinking Sora was something else.

"I… can hear... hear too clearly… I can hear your heartbeats, and it's giving me a headache."

"Wait a second…" Leon came up to Sora, and checked for a pulse. He found nothing. "Still no pulse. But then you should be dead…"

Just then, running footsteps could be heard coming from the hallway, and then someone burst into the bedroom. It was Riku, but he looked like he had been running for his life.

"Sora… you're okay… so you weren't attacked… that's good…" Riku said, exhausted.

"Actually, Sora was attacked. Tidus went to help him, and I came a little while after, but in the end…" Leon was cut off.

"Bitten? Was he bitten by a guy wearing a black cloak?"

"We don't-"

"Was. He. Bitten?"

"We don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? Either he was, or he wasn't!" Leon hated to lie, but Tidus wouldn't have it.

"Yes. Yes, he was bitten. Leon saved Sora, but the attacker took off. But what happened to you? We tried to contact you, but it was switched off. Can you explain that?"

"You think I had something to do with this?"

"No, but we'd like to know what happened to you."

"I got attacked as well. By this guy in a big, black trenchcoat. He went on the offensive, and was very fast. I couldn't keep up with him. He was gonna try and bite me by the neck, but police sirens were in the distance, so someone had seen our fight and called them. He then told me that he expected 'my friend was in a worse predicament than me' and ran off. I was gonna go after him, but he was way too fast. I lost sight of him in a few seconds, and didn't see him again. Without thinking, I ran for home to check on Sora, but someone hit me from behind and knocked me unconscious, and when I came to, I was in the same alley, but soaked by the rain."

"So you didn't get bitten." Leon asked, curiously.

"No. I checked. I'm fine."

The room went silent for a few seconds, until Sora sat back down on his bed and spoke out.

"If you guys don't mind, I'd like to be alone with Riku." He said with sadness in his voice, a rarity for Sora.

"Okay. We'll call Kairi as well-" Leon was cut off.

"No, I don't want to worry her. We'll do it in the morning."

And with that, Leon, Tidus and Aerith left, leaving Riku and Sora alone.

"You alright?" Riku said, with worry evident in his voice and his expression.

"Yeah… I'm fine. I guess…" Sora stayed silent after that. Riku knelt down and hugged Sora, comforting him.

"This is usually one of those moments when I'd tell you that you're fine, but… if I said it now… I'd be lying through my teeth."

Sora began to cry, but made no sound.

Meanwhile…

An abandoned house on the outskirts of the island, all boarded up, no light from the out side able to penetrate the wooden windows. Inside, there was nothing but two chairs, old and ragged, but useable. On one of these chairs sat a tall figure in a black trenchcoat. He sat there silently, as if waiting for someone. Then, a loud bang came form the roof, possibly what was left of the attic. From the, a figure, bloodied but able to walk, jumped down and landed on the floor, by the chairs.

"_So… you failed... and yet you succeeded…" _the man in the chair said, overlooking the wounds the other carried.

"_Failed? If I remember… you failed as well! At least I made progress!"_

"_You know better than to take that kind of tone with me, brother."_

"_But you screwed up!"_

"_On the contrary, merely a change of plans…"_

"_Yeah, just so you can look good in front of Master? Pathetic! You won't even live up to your failures!"_

"_Actually, the change in the plans was ordered by Master himself. I did forward it to you, but you obviously chose not to hear it. And don't tell me you were unconscious, I know you laid there for the key child after you and he fell."_

"_Ungh…" _he was angry, gritting his teeth.

"_You succeeded in the fact that he is no longer among the living. You failed in the fact he is still moving of his own free will. Your objective was to take all his blood, and turn him into a Ghoul. But you failed. He is one of us now, and I don't think Master will be very pleased. In fact… he poses even more of a threat now."_

"_But-"_

"_This is failure that Master refuses to tolerate, and neither do I." _With that, he stood up from his chair and promptly kneed his 'brother in the gut. He cried out in pain as he fell to his knees. _"The Maser requires a Ghoul for his objective, whatever that may be. I will not disappoint him." _He then bit down on his neck, sucking all the blood from him, as his eyes turned from blood red to stone grey. Lifeless, he fell to the ground. He walked over to a wall that had no windows on it, and a dark portal with a person standing in it opened. He nodded to the figure, and before it closed, he uttered:

"_Mission Accomplished. I have a Ghoul in my custody."_

The portal closed, leaving no trace of it ever being there.


	5. Chapter 4: Our Objective

**Authors Note:** Surely this update-a-day process can't go on forever, can it? (Even though this is just a short one) Anyway, I'm still not getting many reviews, so please; if you've got anything to say, say it! Okay, I'll stop whining now.

**Chapter 4: Our Objective**

The World That Never Was – 5:30am

Ever since the Organization had been destroyed by Sora and his friends, The World That Never Was had faded from many peoples memories. Only a few remembered it's existence, and no-one lived there, as it was bordering on the edge of light and darkness, making it unsafe for a being of darkness, or light… except the Heartless.

The Heartless roamed freely in this world like it was a home to them. There was one place they had not laid their claws on, however.

The castle.

It had been reoccupied by an unknown group, whose hearts were filled with darkness, but refused to leave their bodies. They were vampires, but not the common type of vampires. They were organized, and were working towards something. Much like the Nobodies and Organization XIII, but much, much stronger.

"_Zangyre, report."_

"_The Key-Bearer is still alive."_

"_Hmm… so the mission was a failure."_

"_No, not entirely. While he is still moving of his own will, he has been partially turned, and is now a vampire."_

"_A HALF-Vampire, Zangyre. Do not refer to him as one of us."_

"_My apologies. Anyway, my subordinate has a Ghoul as you requested."_

"_Who is it?"_

"_His brother."_

"_I see. He is very devoted to the mission. I will re-consider his request in that case."_

"_Are you sure? His methods do attract... unwanted attention."_

"_I realise that, but if he thinks he might get a promotion of sorts, that will encourage him to work harder."_

"_And if he does succeed?"_

"_I am a man of my word; I will give him that place."_

"_I trust you, master. You have always led us in the right direction. But what about Sora?"_

"_I want you to keep a close eye on him. He may be more useful to us than you think. In the meantime, send out a ransom note to all known vampire gangs, but no-one else. Until I work out what to do with him, I refuse to give him any breathing room. We don't want his powers to fully emerge. He knows not of his family's past, and we must make it so that neither he nor anyone else ever finds out."_

"_Yes. Master. Shall I proceed immediately?"_

"_Make it so."_

**End Chapter**

**Authors Note:** It's a short one this time, but I will type a full length one (maybe two) in the weekend.


	6. Chapter 5: Dead Man Walking

**Authors Note:** Nearly fell behind on the update I promised because Tiscali was being annoying on Friday, and they said I wouldn't have internet back till Tuesday. Turns out they lied. Nonetheless, here is the chapter.

**Chapter 5: Dead Man Walking**

Destiny Islands – 7:00am

The rising sun failed to wake Sora. In fact, he seemed to sleep even more. His curtains were shut tight, however, so it wouldn't be thought that it affected him. He was for some reason unable to sleep until the sun began to rise, possibly an effect of what he had become now. Riku, rather than sleep in his own room, slept in Sora's room, sat beside the room, Keyblade in hand. Leon also stayed in Sora's house, evading sleep, while Tidus had been sent back to his own house to sleep.

Riku slowly opened his eyes, his eyes taking a moment to adjust to the lack of light in the room. As the area came into focus, he looked around to make sure no-one was there, and then turned around to see Sora asleep. He shook Sora to try to get him up, but he couldn't seem to stir him. It was like Sora was unconscious.

"I guess vampires really do sleep in the daytime." Leon uttered as he stepped through the open door.

"Yeah. If Sora was ever thinking of trying to stop the daytime naps, he can throw that out the window now." Riku said. Both he and Leon managed a forced smile, but couldn't hide their true emotions. They were thinking about what was gonna happen now. How would Sora be now he was a vampire? Would Kairi still love him? And more importantly, would he ever be able to change back?

"So… what are we gonna do about Kairi?" The question that Riku was trying to block out. He couldn't bear facing Kairi about the situation. How was he gonna explain it to her? 'Sorry Kairi, Sora's become a Vampire.'? He knew he would have to face her eventually.

"I'll deal with it." He muttered, loud enough so Leon could hear. He walked downstairs and picked up the phone, and dialled Kairi's number.

"Hello, this is Kairi…"

"Hi, Kairi, it's Riku."

"Oh, hi, Riku! What's up?"

"Err, nothing much… Listen, I need you to come down to my house, something happened last night. Something bad."

"What do you mean? Sora's not hurt, is he?"

"Not exactly…"

"What's that mean?"

"Look, just come here as fast as you can."

"Riku, please explain. You're making me worried."

"Just come here and I'll explain!" Riku was getting tedious.

"Okay geeze, no need to shout." And with that, she hung up.

"Damn." Thought Riku. He totally screwed that phone call up. She was probably pissed off at him for being rude for no apparent reason, but she needed to be here for Sora right now, not getting agitated over the phone.

"I gather that went bad." Leon said as he walked to the kitchen.

"Shut up." Riku was annoyed, not at Kairi, but himself, for multiple reasons. Why did Sora have to be the one that got attacked? Why wasn't it him? Why? He deserved it more than Sora. Sora had done absolutely nothing wrong, had he?

No, of course not. It was because he was the Keybearer. And he was always the saviour. He beat the Heartless, and the Nobodies. Riku only helped against the Nobodies, and didn't do a thing to stop the Heartless. He felt like the bad apple in the bunch.

"I know what you're thinking, and you're wrong. Sora and Kairi care about you. Don't think you're the bad guy, because you're not. If you pull out now, because you're thinking you're holding him back, then he'll lose hope. You and Kairi are his hope. That's why he's always so happy, because he's got friends like you, like US."

"Thanks, Leon." He smiled back at Leon, who was also smiling.

"Oh, would ya listen to me? I'm becoming the motivational speaker here." He put his hand on his face, with his little finger slightly bent down, like he always did, and he and Riku laughed slightly.

"I guess this time; it's my turn to protect someone."

"Yeah, maybe it is."

A knock on the door interrupted their talk. Riku went to get it. It was Tidus, and Kairi.

"Alright, I'm here, now what's the problem?"

"…Come upstairs." Riku directed her up to Sora's room and opened the door. There, lying on the bed, still fast asleep, was Sora. But when Kairi entered, he began to stir. He slowly lifted his head and switched on the bedside light (though he didn't really need it as he had improved eyesight and hearing, he didn't know this yet), and looked at Kairi. She gasped at his new eye colour, and was even more shocked when she saw him smile. His fangs stood out like a sore thumb.

"What… happened to you…?" Sora's smile disappeared slowly, as he knew she was afraid of him. But he knew wrong, because she suddenly ran to him and hugged him. "Sora… What's happened to you?"

"I… think I'm a vampire…" Sora was kicking himself mentally. That did not come out right.

"Oh, Sora…" Kairi was weeping. She was always depressed when her friends were ill or otherwise in trouble.

The group spent the next half an hour explaining what had happened last night, and another quarter-hour keeping her calm.

"This is so weird… Vampires were just Sora and Riku's way of frightening me when we were kids at Halloween. But this is real… vampires do exist. And Sora has bee turned into one. At least now I know why the curtains are tightly shut."

"Riku…" Sora muttered softly.

"Yes, Sora?" Riku answered.

"Go to the store and get us all some drinks."

Everyone except Riku and Sora laughed.

"You heard the kid, Riku. Go get beverages." Leon said, with a smirk on his face.

Riku willed his Keyblade to disappear, and took off.

'Well, even if he's different on the outside, he's still Sora…' Riku thought to himself as he walked to the store. When he got there, though, it was shut.

"Damn it. Walked all the way out here for nothing." But something caught Riku's attention. No-one was out on the street. It was deserted. He took a step back, realising it was a trap, but it was too late. A large figure in a red coat came crashing down, sword out, poising to strike. But Riku got lucky and jumped out of the way, almost getting hit. He immediately drew his keyblade and got in the attacking position.

Upon closer inspection of the man, he was about a head taller than Riku, and his red coat came down to his feet, nearly touching the ground. A few black stripes were located on his coat, no particular order to their placement, but they looked like they had been sewed on. His trousers were a tight fit, with several attachments held to them by many belt buckles. Under his coat, he wore a black vest with no sleeves, but like the trousers, it had several item pockets attached to it, but with proper attachment wraps. He also had 2 gun holsters, but Riku couldn't identify the guns that were holstered.

"Who are you? Are you the one that attacked Sora?"

"I see you are quick to make accusations, Riku. No. I was not the one who attacked your friend."

"Then who are you?"

"I am… no-one of importance. But rest assured; a great evil is rising. As time passes, you will realise that Sora becoming a vampire was a blessing in disguise."

"You call not being able to go out in the sun a blessing? I should strike you down for that remark!"

"Well, looks like you know less than I expected."

"Huh?"

"We are not the vampires that you read about in them childish fairytales. We are the real thing. How do you think I'm standing out here, broad daylight, with absolutely no protection except for normal clothing and a big red coat?"

"…" Riku was taken aback by this. He was so sure that vampires would die in the face of the sun, but then again, it WAS a fairytale…

"You have much to learn, Riku." He had seriousness in his voice now. "As does your friend."

"What do you know?"

"Everything I am supposed to know. I am not your enemy, Riku. Lower your Keyblade." Riku did as he was told.

"Then why did you swing at me?"

"I had to be sure it was you."

"By studying my evasion technique?"

"Keybearers have unique evasion skills. For all I know, that could have been a fake, but I realise now it is the true 'Way To Dawn' Keyblade." Riku was still amazed that this guy knew so much. He didn't look like your typical genius.

"Then if you are here to help us… help us."

"And that I will, as I have many things to tell you and your friends. But let's leave this place first. We are open to attack."

"From whom?"

"Anyone. The enemy has put a price on both you and Sora." Riku got angry at this. They couldn't leave Sora or him alone for 5 seconds without causing trouble.

"Why?"

"All in good time, Riku. Patience. For now, let's retreat to your house."

"On one condition."

"What?"

"Sheathe your weapon." He did as he was told. "You raise your weapon against Sora, I'll kill you."

"Squall might, but you won't."

"Huh?" The mention of Leon's real name came as a shock to Riku. How did he know so much about them?

"His weapon is made of silver. Vampires are weak against it. Your keyblade contains no trace of silver whatsoever."

"Point taken."

"Now are we gonna stand here all day? Don't worry about the beverages your friends sent you out here to get, I have some, including one Sora will need."

"What is it?"

"What else? Blood." That last word sent a shiver down Riku's spine. He knew Sora was a vampire now, but he had forgotten that vampires require a constant supply of blood. This was troublesome…

Who was this guy anyway?

And why would he want to help? In Riku's mind, surely all vampires were evil bloodsuckers?

**End Chapter**

**Authors Note:** So there is the new chapter for you, next one coming real soon…

P.S. The mystery guy is NOT Alucard from Hellsing. I am thinking of using him later on, though.


	7. Chapter 6: Animal

**Authors Note:** Almost missed the deadline I set for myself! Anyway, as promised, here is the next chapter.

**Chapter 6: Animal**

Sorry, I just cannot think of a good title!

Riku opened the door to his house, and noticed Leon shout at him, "Assassin!" as he saw the tall figure that was behind him. Riku quickly blocked the Gunblade, and shouted:

"He's not an assassin! Jerk!" he clubbed Leon round the head, giving him a dirty look. Kairi popped her head out of the door to Sora's room, and thinking it was something she shouldn't get involved in, and closed the door. She returned to Sora's side, and smiled at him. Sora was awake, but looked like he was dying. Unfortunately, that was what was happening. Sora was a vampire, and vampires needed blood. While they wouldn't actually 'die', they would become so weak they'd prefer death. So if Sora was ever going to get back to normal, he'd at least need his old strength back.

"K- Kairi…" Sora's voice was quiet and raspy.

"Yes, Sora?"

"I'm… thirsty…" Kairi assumed he meant 'more water'. He didn't know what he meant.

"Okay, I'll get more water. She had brought a bottle of water up to her, but she now had to pour it into the glass. While she poured the water, Sora just stared at her neck. He didn't know what was going on, but he felt his hand reaching very slowly for her neck. He began to have a flashback of when he fell out the window, and took the other vampires blood. He remembered the blood tasting like nothing else. He wanted another taste. Just one drop…

"Don't. Control yourself, Keybearer."

Kairi turned around, and Sora put his attention to the tall person standing in his doorway.

"Ungh… You are…"

"Yes. One of them."

Riku walked in beside the person.

"One thing before you start. Can you please tell me what your name is?" Riku said sternly. He was a bit annoyed that he had walked in here, not saying his name to anyone.

"Oh, sorry, how rude of me." He gestured like he was a real gentleman. "My name is Frank."

"Bit of a plain name, isn't it?" Riku questioned with a smirk on his face.

"Shut up. Just because I'm a very tall guy who happens to be a vampire, does not mean I have to have a cool name, like Jacque, or whatever."

"Doesn't mean they have to have a boring one, either."

"Anyway, if you want me to help, then stop fooling around. I've been told to help you, but that doesn't mean I have to take orders from a mouse."

"Mickey?"

"Yeah, I think that's his name, anyway. Now then, I need to be alone with the kid." Riku was about to object, seeing worry on Kairi's face, but he thought about giving him a chance.

"You attack him and you're gonna wish you hadn't come here."

"Wouldn't dream of it. Not my department, anyway."

And with that, Riku and Kairi left to join Leon outside the door, and closed it behind them. Frank took off his coat to reveal very long black hair, going down to the top of his legs. It was very messy, all over the place, somewhat clinging on to the metal gauntlets on his hands. The gauntlets were a shiny black colour, not overshadowed by the silver pads they had on the outside of his palms and fingers. Sora could tell from a distance that they were made of metal, but they bent and contorted like rubber. He then proceeded to take them off, revealing a set of thin gloves underneath.

"To protect me from the silver." He said to answer the question Sora was about to ask. He saw the thin gloves were also made of that same black metal. Like the gauntlets, they acted like rubber.

"What are your gloves made of? They look like metal, but it bends like something else." Sora said. He felt his throat clearing up.

"I'm not sure either. But they were made by my late brother. He was a brilliant crafter."

"Crafter?"

"Someone that makes useful or otherwise expensive items. Well, that's what I think of it."

"You said late brother-"

"Later, kid. Not now."

"Oh. Sorry."

He then removed the thin gloves, exposing his bare hands.

"Sora… do you grasp what you are now?"

"Yes." Sora had uncertainty in his voice, but he wasn't lying.

"Then know this; Vampires need a constant supply of blood. Luckily, for someone sill as young as you, you don't need as much."

"And how old are you?"

"I'm 93."

"No way."

"Became a vampire when I was 36."

He took a small knife out of one of his vest pockets, and slit his wrist. The blood didn't spurt out; it just came out in a very slow stream. "If you wish to survive, you must drink blood. Here's your first free meal."

"But doesn't it have to be from a human?"

"Nope. Now stop stalling and bite down. Doesn't matter if you take off part of my arm, it'll grow back."

Sora hesitated. How could he live his life like this? Even if Frank was a vampire, it didn't feel right. How could he do this? Sora thought about it though. Maybe if this was all resorted or solved quickly, he'd go back to normal before he ever needed more blood. He didn't think twice about it after that. He took Frank's bleeding arm in his hands, and licked the blood. He felt like an electrical surge just rang through his body. But he didn't fall back. He wanted more.

He bit down on Franks arm and began to suck the blood from him. All rational thought and emption left Sora as he continuously tasted more and more of the blood.

It tasted so good. He didn't want to stop. More…

Frank began to realise Sora was taking in too much at one and pushed Sora off, with a little bit of force. He fell back onto the bed, but he quickly sprang back up and clamped down on Franks arm again. He didn't stop biting though. He kept biting hard on the same spot, and eventually, it gave way. Sora had chewed Franks hand off his wrist.

"Augh! Dammit!" Frank shouted

He quickly put on the glove on his good hand (but left the gauntlets off) and punched Sora in the side of the head. Hard. Sora fell back down, yelping in pain. This immediately caused the rest of the gang to spring through the doors.

"Stay back from-" Riku was cut off by what he saw, and immediately turned his attention to shielding Kairi from seeing the mess. It was too late, though, and she was already running away, in the direction of the lounge. No-one heard her, but she began to cry.

"I apologize, but Sora let his animalistic side take over." Frank said, as a misty shadow formed over where his hand was. And then as if by magic, it was there, good as new.

"What the hell…"

"I'll clean up. I am sorry for making a mess… And not having thought about his Anti.

"His… what?"

"I will explain in a moment." Frank had a look of seriousness on his face, but this was covered mostly by his hair, which was blowing in the opposite direction now, lightly. He walked over to window to close it, as it was getting on his nerves.

"If you wanna fight your enemy, you need better weapons."

He took from the back of his coat, a large briefcase (without the silver parts) and opened it.

"Whoa…" Riku was stunned.

"This is just the tip of the iceberg."

**End Chapter**

**Authors Note:** Sorry I've cut it short, but I ran out of time with the computer. Gotta get it uploaded before I go to bed, got college tomorrow. Later.

P.S. Any weapon references are generously accepted. Just put em in your reviews. And that's another thing. Read & Review! Near 500 hits and 7 Reviews? Man.


	8. Chapter 7: The Anti

**Authors Note:** Rather than just post up what I didn't type on Sunday, I've written up a proper chapter in its place. Hope you don't mind.

**Chapter 7: The Anti**

Destiny Islands – 2:00pm

Frank took the small black box out of the back of the briefcase and opened it. Inside were 2 pairs of black shiny gloves, exactly like the ones he wore.

"They're like yours." Riku said.

"Yeah. Light as plastic." He then smashed it hard with a small silver knife he had. "And harder than any metal existing on this world. "He brought up the knife. It was severely bent, in a sense of the word, crippled.

"Whoa. Can I try them on?" Riku asked. Frank nodded, and he put them on. At first, they looked way too small for him. But when he put them on, they seemed to fit perfectly. It didn't show any signs of stretchiness, and it felt very comfortable. He tried punching the broken knife, and it shattered into a few pieces. "It feels so comfy, and I barely felt that."

"Well, you can try those out an all, while I tend to an UNCONSCIOUS SORA!" Leon shouted the last part, angrily.

"Erm, I didn't know he was unconscious!" Riku said to defend himself, giving a dirty look at Frank.

"Self defence, man, self defence." Frank said. 'Yeah, right.' Riku thought.

"Leon, can you go and check on Kairi, I'm worried about her." Riku asked Leon.

"Yeah, sure." Leon said in monotone, and as he left, he shut the door behind him.

Riku went over to look at Sora. He was fine, but Riku still thought he was hurt.

"Why'd you hurt him?" Riku asked, angrily.

"I just knocked him out. When he wakes up, he'll be fine." Frank reassured him

"If you hit him with these gloves, he's probably dead!"

"No. He has regenerative powers now among other things."

"Like?"

"Well, you know how I mentioned his Anti?"

"Yes, why?"

"I suppose you know what it is?"

"Can't say I do…"

"Well, in your previous adventures, Sora got a set of special clothes from Yen Sid, right? Well, they allow him to 'drive' or delve deeper into his heart and connect with others, increasing his strength tenfold. However, one thing they didn't know is that it also allowed the darkness in his heart to grow, and at times, when it became too much, it would manifest itself when he tried to 'drive', taking him over and consuming him, temporarily turning him into a Heartless. During this time, he would lose control of the keyblade, forcing him to use his hands. Basically, he's like a human-sized Shadow Heartless."

"My god… why didn't Sora ever tell me?" Riku was nearly in tears, discovering that Sora was even worse off than he imagined.

"Because Sora didn't know."

"How wouldn't he know?"

"Because he wasn't in control. Though he understands the light of his heart, he doesn't understand the darkness of his heart, and now that he is a vampire, it will consume him if he doesn't take control of it."

Riku looked down on the ground, eyes wide open. Sora… is losing to the darkness? No, it's not possible. Sora was THE light in his opinion. He couldn't have a pure heart like Kairi, but he certainly would never allow the darkness to control him in any way. Frank had to be lying, he just had to!

"You're lying. You just have to be."

"I'm afraid not. But you can help him Riku. Help him stop the darkness."

"And I will. I'll do anything to help Sora and Kairi. And if anyone, even you, gets in my way, I'll destroy them."

Frank looked at him for a second, and then laughed.

"Hey! What's so funny?" Riku asked.

"It's you! You and your stupidness! Yes, you can help Sora fight the darkness, but you sure can't defeat the enemies that you are up against."

"Since when? The keyblade is all I need!"

"No, my friend, you need a lot more than that. Even Sora couldn't beat them, and he's got a head start!"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Do you want me to run down a list of things that Sora gets when he becomes a vampire?"

"Yes, actually, I would!"

"Well for one thing, his strength boosts by a massive amount, he could probably lift this house up if he tried. Another is his agility and reflexes. He could probably run around this island in a few minutes, whereas you would take about an hour or two, shall I go on?"

"Ungh…"

"Also, he can't be killed by provisional methods. Just watch."

With that, he pulled out a silenced pistol and fired at Sora. He hit him in between the eyes.

"WHAT THE-"

"Wait for it."

Within seconds, the wound healed up. And the bullet dropped out of his head. The wound sucked up the blood that had been spilled, and sealed up the wound as if he had never been shot.

"Hell?" Riku finished his sentence.

"Now do you see?"

"Yes…"

"That is why I am giving you these weapons. There will be other lowly vampires that might come after you, seeing you as a threat. Others may help you. Don't consider all vampires as an enemy. They have free will, and can choose to do good or evil."

"So they're basically like humans- well, overpowered humans."

"Not entirely. As you may already know, their main weaknesses are silver and the sun. They have no other weaknesses. Holy Water does nothing, hell; some can turn it into Unholy Water, the reverse of its counterpart. Stakes are bull too, unless you use silver stakes, but that still counts as silver."

"Wow." Riku was amazed at all this. He had known bits of information about vampires all his life (though not believing in their existence till now) but as it turned out, only some of it was true.

"Now do you understand?"

"Yes. Then I will work and train hard. If I can't kill them, I need to at least be able to protect him from them."

"Very true. Now you are more understanding of the task that lies ahead for you both."

"Yes."

"Anyway… here are your gauntlets. He presented to him a set of thick gloves, exactly like Franks, silver lining and all, but seemingly used.

"Hey… these have been used." Riku said, confused.

"So?"

"Well that means they might be weaker than yours."

"It's true. They are weaker."

Riku mumbled something rude under his breath.

"But you don't need ones as strong as mine. Yet. When you do, I'll get you some that are better than mine." Frank said.

While Riku put the gloves on, he noticed another box just like the box that had his gloves in. He picked it up and opened it, but before he got a look at what was inside, Frank yanked it away from him.

"What the hell? What did-"

"Didn't your father ever teach you manners?" He said in a noticeably annoyed voice. "Don't go snooping around for other peoples stuff."

"I just wondered what was in there…"

"Yeah, well your not gonna find out if I have anything to say about it!" He shouted.

"Sorry… I'm just curious. Sorry." Riku realised he was afraid of Frank. Not only did he tower over him and Sora, but he had a bad temper.

"No, I'm sorry. I just got a little pissed, that's all. No worries. Just… don't look in there ever again, okay?"

"Okay." Riku didn't want to look him in the eye. He didn't even know it himself until that moment, but he feared this man. He was annoying, and a bit rude, but he could definitely defend himself. But then Riku realised something else. This was the same fear he felt toward Sora now. He had never feared Sora before; he had always looked up to him in a way. Now it scared him to be near him. He looked at the gauntlets he was wearing. Was he trying to protect Sora… or was he trying to protect himself?

"Hey Frank…"

"Yeah?"

"How come… I feel… afraid' of you and Sora…"

"Unless you fully trust the vampire, you can quickly come to fear them.

"But I do trust Sora. I always have."

"But do you trust him fully?"

Riku stared at Frank for a few seconds. The question rang back and forth in his head.

"Don't let it worry you. You have much worse things to worry about."

Riku spent most of the day getting prepared for this new journey. Sora, after an hour, woke up and got equipped also. He didn't need as much protection, though, as he had regenerative abilities. Riku, on the other hand, needed something stronger.

Once they were outfitted, they changed their clothes.

Destiny islands – 5:30pm

Sora wore a pair of tight black jeans, but like Frank, he had a few strap-on pockets decorating his belt **(Note: The pockets look like those 'compartments' the US army have on their body armour and trousers, how else can I describe it??)**, waist and legs, but not as many. He also had a holster for a gun, but it was empty (for now). On his upper body he wore a skin-tight t-shirt covered mostly by a long-sleeved black jacket, somewhat resembling the jacket he got from Yen Sid, only it was long-sleeved and had no other colour except crimson red at the edges of the coat, zipper, and sleeves. He also wore the glove-gauntlet combination that Riku and Frank wore. Sora was told he needed no protection as he could regenerate, but would just have to stand the pain.

Riku, on the other hand, wore his light blue jeans, but now they had knee pads wrapped around them. He also had the same strap-on pockets Sora had, but a few more than he had. On his upper body, he wore a black baggy t-shirt under a short-sleeved jacket, again black, but unlike Sora, it was plain, the only distinguishable feature was the attached titanium shoulder pads. He also wore elbow pads, made of the same material as his shoulder/knee pads. Under the t-shirt, he was wearing a sleeveless vest made of the same material as his gloves, the shiny black metal.

"Suits you both perfectly." Frank said as he looked at them.

"I have a question. Why are you relying on Sora regenerative abilities so much?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've given him far less protection. All he has is the gauntlets, and his clothes. I have knee pads, shoulder pads, elbow pads, and body armour, not to mention the gauntlets."

"Because if Sora can regenerate, we should use that ability, not treat him like he's only human."

"What, so just cause he's different now, we should treat him differently?"

"You know that's not what he meant, Riku, stop being stupid." Leon said, coming round the corner.

"And why are you backing him up, Leon? I refuse to trust him! He's a vampire!"

"Did you forget Sora is too?" Frank said, interrupting him. Riku was getting angry, but he realised his mistake. He was being hypocritical. Sora was a vampire too, but he wasn't meant to be a… he lowered his head in shame and turned his back to everyone.

"S…Sorry…" Riku wanted to cry, but Sora offered him comfort.

"Don't cry, Riku. It's not your fault. Besides, I don't really mind." Riku looked up to him, and saw Sora giving him a goofy smile again.

"Quit it, kids. Anyway…" Frank's interruption brought their attention back to him. "As I was going to say, you don't have much time to waste. I have a contact willing to help you in Traverse Town."

"You mean we go world travelling again?" Sora asked, despite it being obvious the answer was 'yes'.

"This is why you are leaving now while the sun is down."

"But the sun is always down in Traverse Town."

"Not always. You've just never been there when it's daytime."

"Oh, yeah, it's not like I go there often anymore, or ever did for that matter."

"So, are you two ready? Cause I'm not accompanying you to Traverse Town, I have business to attend to."

"What kind?"

"I've been asked to keep that a secret. But don't worry. Sora will soon realise that there is more than one way of staying in contact with me."

"What's that mean?" Riku said.

"Bye!" And with that, he opened the front door and began to walk away, but Riku called him.

"Wait, how are we gonna get there?"

"The way you got there before, doofus! Gummi ship! You still have one, use it!"

"Ok…" He continued his walk.

"So… are we ready for this?" Sora asked Riku, but he knew what the answer would be.

"I'm always ready." Riku answered

"Then let's-"

"Wait! You're going nowhere without me!" They turned round to see Kairi running toward them.

"Not this time, Kairi."Sora said

"But why? What if I lose you-"

"Don't think like that, Kairi. You won't lose us, and we won't lose you. Our hearts are connected." Sora added before she could say anything else.

They held their hands to their hearts and looked at each other.

"Even though mine isn't working now, I can still sense yours. And as long as all of our harts are strong, we will get through this. We've done it before, we'll do it again."

They removed their hands from their hearts and smiled at each other. Kairi hugged them both and kissed them, not goodbye, but good luck.

They went to the gummi ship and waved one last goodbye to everyone; Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Tidus, Selphie, Wakka, and most importantly of all: Kairi.

Sora and Riku set off pretty quickly, and soon, they lost sight of Destiny Islands.

"We're not saying goodbye, Sora. We will be back. I promise." Riku said to his friend. They smiled at each other and looked onto their destination.

Traverse Town.

**End Chapter**

**Authors Note:** I made this one a bit longer because I didn't deliver anything on Tuesday, and I will resume my normal timetable. Read & Review PLEASE!


	9. Chapter 8: Traverse Town

**Authors Note:** I missed Saturdays update! Whoops! I had a heap of college work to do, so I couldn't do it, and also, nothing was coming to me about what to write next. So, apologies if this next chapter seems rushed.

**Chapter 8: Traverse Town**

Traverse Town – 9:00pm

Riku and Sora got lucky. It seems that Traverse Town shared the same time cycle as Destiny Islands, so it was around nine when they reached the city.

"So… got any idea who we're looking for?" Riku started the talk, asking the obvious question.

"I wish he'd told us what she or he looked like, but either way, let's not start any trouble until we find her." Sora replied.

"Why no trouble?"

"Because as you've noticed, I'm unarmed, except for these gauntlets."

"You idiot! Did you forget you have the Keyblade?"

"No, and I can't. I already tried."

Sora stretched his arm forward, and tried to call the Keyblade to his hand. But nothing happened. No light. No sudden weight addition to his arm. No Keyblade. Nothing.

"OK, is there anything else I don't know?" Riku was already getting frustrated.

"Nothing Frank didn't tell you."

"I don't trust him…"

"Look, enough arguing, and let's focus on the task at hand, okay?"

"Fine, but still-"

Riku was cut off by a bunch of people tackling him out of nowhere, and pinning him to the ground. The one who held his arms showed his fangs, quickly revealing himself to be a vampire. Just as he was about to bite Riku, Sora came out of nowhere and tackled them all, allowing Riku to get to his feet.

They were all vampires, as it turned out. But they looked like a bunch of thugs.

"So that's the kid…"

"Yeah, that other guy said that this is the kid. Man, this twitch is worth all that money?"

"Doesn't matter, its money or nothing. Let's get em!"

They came full force at Sora and Riku. Riku didn't hesitate to draw his Keyblade, the Way To Dawn, while Sora just put his fists up, but in the back of his head was embarrassed, as he had never once engaged in melee combat. Without thinking, he threw a punch at them, and hit the front man on the shoulder. The silver left a burn mark on the vampire, but he didn't seem that phased. So he threw another punch, harder this time. He aimed for the head, and struck right on his target. The punch went all the way through the vampires head, and after a few seconds, he disintegrated into dust, ash, and flames. Riku caught a glimpse of this, and was shocked by this. He felt even more afraid. But Sora was doubly afraid. He couldn't believe what he had just done. He felt guilty for taking the vampires life, even if he was sort of already dead. He looked at his right hand, the hand that punched through the vampire, as if he had blood on it. He felt so much like he did. This distraction allowed the other vampires to take down both Sora and Riku, and pin them to the floor, much in the same fashion Riku had been pinned down a moment ago. They stared at their prey, and licked their fangs.

But before they could bite down, three gunshots were heard. Riku and Sora opened their eyes to see the two vampires that held down Riku dissolve, and one on top of Sora dissolve also, leaving one holding Sora. Sora quickly overcame this by head butting the vampire (not wanting to kill him), and knocking the sense out of him.

"So you two have finally arrived. It's about time!"

Sora looked around for the source, and he found it pretty quickly (to his own surprise). A girl stood on the roof of a nearby building, wearing a mix of black, red and blue. She had long black hair (much like Franks but not messy, it was straight and taken care of) and was wearing black gauntlets, no silver seen on them, but they were the same black material Sora and Riku had on theirs. Her eyes were blood red, indicating she was a vampire.

She ran over to Sora and checked him, also checking the still visible bite mark he had on his neck.

"You don't have enough blood running in you."

"Huh?" Riku said, giving her a 'What?' expression."

"He needs to take in more blood."

"Thought I got enough from Frank."

"Well, you didn't. Vampires need a lot more to survive. So you need to feed."

Sora shook his head at the idea, as he didn't want to feed. He wanted to stay mostly human.

"It's okay; you've got a free sample right here." And with that, she picked up the dazed vampire.

"Wait a minute…"

"Look, I don't have time to be fooling about. Every known vampire is after you, so we can't just stand here. Either you take his blood, or I leave you both here."

"Hey! Leave him alone!"

"Shut up, human! Don't tell me what to do."

""Please, Riku, just leave it."

Sora thought long and hard about what to do. But as he thought, his Anti saw an opportunity.

'_Do it…'_

Sora was unable to respond. These thoughts were becoming his.

'_FEED… you must… to survive…'_

Sora looked at the vampire that the woman had now dropped on his butt. He suppressed the greed that was taking him over at this point, and just grabbed the vampire. He took some time to think about it, but in the end, finally bit down. He sucked the blood out of the vampire. He was there a few minutes, eventually dropping to his knees as he wouldn't let up. Riku had his back turned, not wanting to see his best friend degraded to this. He wanted to cry. He knew that this was Anti-Sora working its magic, making Sora take all he could.

Eventually, Sora had sucked the vampire dry. Seeing his use served, the girl pulled out her pistol and shot the vampire-tuning-ghoul in the head. He disintegrated immediately. Before, Sora showed remorse, compassion for the vampires, not wishing to take their lives. But Sora was smiling now, showing no emotion except satisfaction. He shuddered for a few seconds before clutching his head in pain. As quickly as he left, Sora's normal personality returned.

"Ungh… what happened?"

"You fed." The girl said.

"Come Again?"

"You fed for blood."

"No… I didn't, I… did I?"

"You fed on a vampire, so it's okay. No harm done."

Riku wanted to hit her then and there. She was oblivious to what Sora briefly became. It angered him ,as well as made him afraid, that Sora might be this way forever. He wanted to block those thoughts out, but he felt something telling him he was right.

He already hated the girl that had saved them. While she was quick to get the job done, she was too straight with things, and seemed to rush him and Sora, particularly with the blood issue.

"So, what is your name anyway?"

"My name is Sophie. 63 years old. Became a vampire at 17."

17 was how old Sora was now. A bit ominous, Riku thought.

"Come on. If you wanna stay alive, stick with me. You have a few things to be updated on."

Riku went to follow her, but noticed Sora was still kneeling on the floor. He helped him up, but noticed Sora was crying, though making no noise. He knew why Sora was crying. The painful reality of things were still just beginning to settle in for Sora. And it was all bad.

**End Chapter**

**Authors Note:** Sorry for the rushed chapter, but you deserve something. It's not as long as the previous one, but that's just too bad, in my opinion. I don't really care how long they are, anyway, so long as everything I wanted to write is written, and it arrives on time.

Next chapter on Tuesday (hopefully).


	10. Chapter 9: The Family

**Authors Note:** Tr1ckydr1v3r officially apologizes for the long wait. And now, your update.

**Chapter 9: The Family**

Traverse Town – 1:00am

Sora, Riku, and Sophie had taken shelter in a nearby tavern to avoid anymore attention being drawn towards them. Luckily no-one saw either her or Sora bearing fangs, and they were able to slip through without detection. They rented out one room with one bed, which was only used by Riku (seeing as Sora and Sophie can't sleep in night time, being vampires and all), but Riku couldn't sleep anyway, fearing that Sophie might be a spy or something, and try to kill him, or take all his blood. He also, sadly, felt the same about Sora. Those thoughts were driving him crazy, and wouldn't let him sleep. He kept looking over his shoulder to make sure they weren't creeping up on him, until Sora noticed it while he sat, thinking to himself.

"Riku… just go to sleep…" Sora mumbled, worrying about his long time friend.

As Riku was about to protest, he felt sleepy, as if Sora's words had an effect on him. At first he wanted to stay awake, but something was telling him to 'sleep as commanded'. He yawned, and decided to let the issue go, falling asleep almost in an instant.

"That was fast." Sora said to Sophie, who was just sitting on the floor on the other side of the room.

"Vampires can easily convince humans to bend to their will, Sora. Be careful what you say to your friend, you might take his free will away."

Sora felt his stomach twist at those words. He didn't want to hurt anyone, especially Riku. He would never want to hurt him. Or Kairi. Or any of his friends for that matter. It seemed like every second he lived as a vampire just made his and everyone else's life worse. Deciding to break the silence, Sora asked Sophie:

"Frank said you're going to help us, right?"

"Pfft. I'm only doing it because I have to, but yes, I will help you."

"How will you help us?"

"Information. Well, all the info I have, anyway, which isn't much."

"Well, what do you have?"

"Wake the human up first, would you? I won't repeat myself."

"Can you call him Riku, please?"

"No." Sophie said, coldly. Sora went over to Riku and nudged him, but he didn't wake up. He started prodding him several times before hitting him, but Riku did not wake up. He didn't move.

"Well, how do I wake him?"

"Idiot! You told him to sleep! So tell him to wake up!"

He thought about it, thinking it was crazy, but he decided to let up, and say it to Riku.

"Riku, wake up."

At that moment, Riku began to stir. He slowly woke up and looked around the room, stopping when his aqua eyes met Sora's blood red eyes.

"Ohh... did I fall asleep?" Riku asked, not knowing how he fell asleep.

"Well, duh! Now are you two boys finished? I will not wait any longer!" Sophie complained.

The boys took their original positions (Sora on the chair, Riku on the bed, but now sitting up) and waited for her to begin talking.

"Okay. Here goes. You two are the target of an ancient and long-lasting vampire family that has run for generation to generation. The family originally began when two pregnant mothers were bitten by vampires, and they became Ghouls. Before you ask, if Frank didn't tell you, a Ghoul is what happens if someone who is bitten loses all their blood. They become under control of the biter.

Anyway, as I was saying, the mothers became Ghouls just after the babies were delivered, and as it turns out, one was a boy, named Draque, the other a girl, named Elizabeth. However, because they were supposed to be human, but ended up as vampires, they at first went through a normal human's life cycle."

"Meaning they eventually died of old age." Riku spoke out with the obvious answer.

"Wrong. They actually had the ability to age when they wished, and also regress back to a younger version of themselves, so they still were immortal. But it wouldn't have made sense if they were still babies. But, anyway, they first showed their imminent strength when they were around 6 years old. They had been living in an orphanage all their lives, and no-one wanted them because of what happened to their mothers. Back then the world they lived in was quite more religious than most worlds today, so the church fed it into everyone's minds that they were the devils children. They were mistreated, abused, beaten, and the church condoned it.

But as I said, when they reached 6, they found out who bit their mothers. It was two brothers, who had been experimenting with the power of the heart and the blood that ran through it. They delved too deeply into the subject, and infected themselves with it naturally, becoming full vampires. Not knowing what had taken them over, they were blinded by the bloodlust, their hunger. But when instead of killing them, they bit the attackers, thus marking them. They were told that from here on out they would obey their every order, or suffer the consequences. Their next target was several key people in their world, including the priest that owned the orphanage. They killed him in the fashion that you would kill vampires: with a silver stake through the heart.

After that, they quickly became feared, killing people that they didn't like, or turning them into vampires. Now normally, if a human becomes a vampire, they would be addressed as a 'half-vampire'. But that family has a special ability to make a human a full vampire, as if they were born that way. They always kept to themselves, refusing to condone vampires turning humans into vampires for the fun of it, and without permission or orders to do so. They also, for that matter, despise 'half-vampires'. They have always had one goal: to force the existence of vampires into other people's lives, to make us acknowledge their existence. Eventually, they had kids. 2 girls and 3 boys, alongside several other people they had bitten, including the two brothers that bit their mothers.

But about 1300 years ago, the family fell into disarray. The sons and daughters began to disagree over what should happen with the family, whether they should go all out against the humans, or resolve it peacefully, or even just leave them alone. The father and mother were disgusted at all their children, and using their power, put the family into a deep sleep, never to wake up. But unfortunately, the spell went wrong, and it affected them as well. The whole family became cursed, and supposedly died, but the people that weren't directly linked to their bloodline survived, but had to leave the world they were buried in, because by then, Vampire Hunters had come into existence, and without the bloodline to protect them, they were weak and vulnerable. A few died while escaping, but most survived, again including those two brothers. They carried on their lives, hoping they would get their chance to bring back the family.

And 1200 years later, it happened. By then the brothers were the only ones left, the others killed by Hunters or just disappeared so they had to do it on their own. They raided the world that the family was buried in, and killed everyone there, taking every last drop of blood they could take. Eventually, they found the family, and because they had been 'marked' by the heads of the family, they were able to undo the spell, and bring back the family. Now they have resumed their objective, but it hit a rock when they decided to take out all possible opposition. You. The brothers had once again resumed their job as being servants to the family, and their objective was to bring back a ghoul. They decided to take you out, Sora, as not only would this do, they would effectively take out a possible future threat."

"But what about me? Aren't I a possible threat?" Riku asked, a bit annoyed they might think of him as nothing.

"Why do you think the other brother tried to kill you?" Riku remembered that encounter in the alley, how he was weak and inferior to the other man, something he hated to be, unless it was Sora, cause he knew Sora should be better than him.

"Anyway, they screwed up. Not only were you not taken out, Sora was able to avoid becoming a Ghoul, when he took in blood from one brother. The other brother did not have extensive knowledge of Ghouls, thinking they needed a bit of blood for the transformation to be perfect. It cost him his life, and as a replacement, he was the Ghoul instead. To avoid trouble with the family, however, he kept his mouth shut about it. But it seems age had taken its toll on the last brother, as he had forgotten that someone who worked for them could read minds, so they knew right from the start they went for Sora. Wile this annoyed the family, and even more so when they found out you survived. But they decided not to kill him, as he is still useful to them. But once his usefulness is gone, they will 'deal with him' for his disobedience."

Sophie had finished talking, indicated by the moment of silence in the room.

"Wow. That was a lot to take in. But, you haven't given us complete info, like what the brothers names are, what the family's names are, not counting the father and mother." Riku said.

"I don't know them, so be happy you know anything, because your whining is getting on my nerves!" And with that, Riku shut up.

"God, what time is it?" Sora asked, feeling sleepy "It's near dawn, isn't it?"

"The sun rises faster in Twilight Town, so it'll be visible in a couple of minutes. I suggest you sleep, Sora, okay?" Sophie told Sora, a hint of caring in her voice, but Riku doubted this (he also heard it).

"Okay, I feel sleepy anyway…" Sora yawned. Riku, even knowing that vampires slept during the day, still found it weird.

"Riku, we need you to stay in this room. There may be Hunters after us." Sophie requested

"But why?"

"While some Hunters know not all vampires are bad, others believe even if it was an accident, they should all die, good or evil. Even if it's you Sora, who has done much for good."

"Okay, I'll stand guard. They're human, so maybe be weaker."

"Maybe, but not by much."

Riku wiped his face with his wrist, and summoned his keyblade. He stood ready for anything.

Unfortunately, he would find trouble in a little while.

**End Chapter**

**Authors Note:** So what do you think of this chapter? Hope it doesn't appear rushed. Next chapter at the weekend, hopefully. See Ya!


	11. Chapter 10: The Hunters

**Authors Note:** Nothing to say really… you probably know why I was off a few days, but nonetheless, here you go.

**Chapter 10: The Hunters**

Traverse Town – 8:00am

Outside the hotel that Sora, Riku, and Sophie were staying at, a man wearing a white cloak. He stared at the window of the room that they were staying in (well when you're the only one that closes up the curtains you do tend to stick out), and smiled. He bowed his head and uttered something quietly, hands clasped together as if in prayer. He put on his glasses, and entered the hotel.

"Good morning sir, how can I help you?" The hotel receptionist said.

"Ah, yes, I was wondering, have you seen this person?" He produced a picture of Sora.

"Why?"

"I am a good friend of his. I was looking for him yesterday, said he'd meet me, but I couldn't find him. I'm worried."

"Ah, yes, I noticed them yesterday."

"Them?"

"Yes, he came with 2 other people, a tall, young silver-haired boy, and a girl with long black hair. They didn't say anything, they just slapped the money down and took a vacant key. I was going to say something, but that one you're asking about, he seemed to be coughing up blood, at least I thought he was."

"Coughing up blood? Are you sure?"

"Positive. Also, that picture is wrong. His eyes were red."

The man seemed to think long and hard about that last bit. 'So, they have taken him. I guess I am too late. In that case, I have no choice. I must kill the Keyblade Master, by any means necessary. It is sad, but it is our Lord's wishes.'

"Sir? Should I call an ambulance for him then? They told me not to, but-"

"No, that will not be necessary. I will see if he requires an ambulance. If he does, I will phone room service and request one. One more thing. If their room is full, may I have a room next to or near theirs?"

"Why, certainly! Here, room 14, just next to theirs on the second floor. Ok? Hello?"

She looked up and noticed that the man was gone. He had taken the key, and left the correct amount of money. "Strange…"

Speaking of Sora and company (Who were all except Riku, sleeping), Riku waited on the chair, Keyblade in hand. He felt hungry, so he took the keys and willed his Keyblade away.

"Be back in a… oh yeah, you're asleep…" He said. He left and locked the door.

On the way to the cafeteria, he walked in to another person by accident, who seemed a bit annoyed.

"Oof! Sorry!" Riku said.

"Oh, no problem, my bad. Here, let me help you up." The man was indeed the man from the reception, but Riku didn't know this.

'Ah, he must be Riku, The Child of Twilight. This will be interesting.' He pulled up Riku and got a look at his aqua-green eyes. 'So he hasn't been turned. Very good. He could help me.'

"Sorry, I was just headed to the cafeteria, but I didn't see you there."

"Oh, the cafeteria? Why, me too. Come on, let me buy you a drink."

"No, really, it's okay-"

"No, I insist. Come on."

Riku could have sworn he was headed away from that area, but he decided to ignore it and go with him.

Riku got a hamburger and soda, while the cloaked man got himself a coffee.

"So, are you staying here?"

"Yes. Why are you interested?" Riku didn't like being questioned, watched or anything like that.

"Because I know who you are, Riku, Keyblade Wielder. Though not the Wielder of light, you are still in possession of a Keyblade."

Riku nearly choked on his burger. How did this guy know?

"Excuse me?"

"I've been looking for you for a day now, or more precisely, your friend, Sora."

"Who are you…"

"My name is Sean. And I am a Vampire Hunter."

Riku's eyes narrowed. What Sophie had said was obviously true, but if he was here to kill Sora, he had another thing coming.

"Are you here to-"

"-Kill him? He's the Keyblade Master, why would I kill him if he fights the darkness, not wields it."

"Because he has become a vampire."

"Has he? Didn't know about that, but if he has, then it… complicates matters…" Sean feigned innocence and stupidity.

"In what way? If you-"

"Don't worry, I won't harm ya."

And with that, Sean walked away. Riku finished his burger and ran back to the room. He quickly unlocked the door and ran in, to find nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing. Sora and Sophie still on their beds, and Sean nowhere to be found.

"Phew… that's pretty good."

But as soon as he said that, he wished he hadn't. Something hard hit him from behind, knocking him unconscious. It was Sean. Dragging Riku into he room, he took the keys and locked the door. He took off his glasses, and slowly walked towards Sora. He looked at Sora caringly, but really he didn't care about Sora anymore.

He pulled out a silver stake from his jacket, and raised the weapon to take a strike…

But suddenly, from out of nowhere, Sophie sprung up and punched his wrist, knocking the stake onto the floor. She tried to bite him, but Sean was very strong and athletic for a human. He tried to throw her onto the stake, but failed. The commotion caused Sora to wake from his slumber, and look up to notice Sean and Sophie battling it out. He didn't think twice, and punched him in the head with the silver gauntlet. But Sora had assumed this was a vampire, and was pretty shocked to see Sean come out with just a head graze, and a minor cut. Sean looked pissed, and took the opportunity to grab from his jacket, a bag of silver dust. He chucked it at Sora, but Sora assumed it was bad, and dodged it. Unfortunately, some of the dust came into contact with his left arm, and it burnt the skin. Sora wailed in pain, and not being used to pain as a vampire, he fell to the ground and clutched the wound, which was bleeding. Sean then hit Sophie square in the face, knocking her down for a few seconds. He then picked up the stake, and began to stalk Sora, who was edging towards the window.

"May the Lord have mercy on your soul, Keyblade Wielder."

He was about to stab down, until he was stabbed himself, in the back by Riku's Keyblade. He wailed in pain, as Sora took this opportunity to grab him and throw him out the closed window. He threw him so hard, he broke the window into a million pieces.

"I guess I don't know my own str-"

Sora realized his mistake as the curtains flew open again and permanently this time, exposing him to the sun. He screamed in pain, as the sun felt like pure agony all over his body. Riku rushed to him and pulled him into the shadows, saving him. He noticed that Sora had left a trail of smoke behind him, not a very noticeable one, but he could still see it. Sora shook a lot, still in a lot of pain as his hands and arms showed light burns all over them. His face also had a few burn marks. Riku was very worried. What if Sora stayed like this? Permanently defaced?

"Don't… worry about him…" Sophie said as she closed the curtains, being careful not to get touched by the suns rays.

"They'll heal up at night time. So he should be fine. But we can stop the pain if he takes blood."

"But he just got some last night! And we are not going hunting!"

"Then he can have some from me." A familiar voice said.

They tuned around to see Frank standing in the doorway.

"But first, let's get to a better place."

He summoned a portal, leading to another place.

"Where's that lead to?"

"My place. Come on, I'll carry Sora." Frank took off his gauntlets for safety, and picked up Sora. They all then proceeded to walk through it.

They emerged in a large hallway, probably belonging to a mansion. They were stunned at the look of it. It windows, but it was night time outside.

"Welcome… to my home. And here, it is always night time."

**End Chapter**

**Authors Note:** So there you go. Bit of a stupid place to leave the chapter end, but time constraints, people. I have work to do. Remember to Read & Review!

-Tr1cky


	12. Chapter 11: Home Sweet Home?

**Authors Note:** Before you begin reading this, I would like to say that I've noticed that people are beginning to stop reviewing. Please, review! I'm hoping to get at least a few for this (or from here on out). I would like to see more by Monday. We reach 30 reviews, I update on Monday. If not, I update at some other point in that week. Sorry but it seems like it's the only way to get opinions from people (Sorry, I know I whine a LOT). Anyway…

**Chapter 11: Home Sweet Home?**

As you've noticed, another dull name.

Frank's Mansion – Time: N/A

They looked around at their surroundings and Riku had a 'wow' expression on his face (Sophie had been here before).

"This lace is huge…" Riku said to break the silence.

"Okay, I'll take Sora to get healed; Sophie will show you to your guest room."

"Are we all sharing a room or something?"

"I sleep in my own room, and so will Sora. You and Sophie will sleep in the same room, though. And don't ask, all the bedrooms are close to each other, so if you feel Sora will be unsafe, then grow some guts." (Don't say it, readers.)

Riku as always was annoyed by Frank's remarks but decided to ignore it this time. He let Sophie show him around, while Frank took Sora to his room.

"Oh, one more thing…" Frank shouted. "Don't ever go outside."

In Sora's room was a bed, a bunch of boxes inside what seemed to be a big freezer that Sora could fit inside, and there was also a large machine.

"Come here." Frank commanded Sora. He brought him to the machine.

"Put your arm in there." He said. "You won't feel a thing, for obvious reasons. Basically, it makes a cut in your wrists and tests your blood. From there, it can measure certain things, like how much you have running through your body."

Sora was hesitant, but decided to do it. He felt the blade cut him deep, but felt no pain or discomfort whatsoever. About a minute later, the machine let him go. He saw a very large, still bleeding cut, but as he motioned to suck the blood from the wound, Frank stopped him.

"It will heal naturally, kid. Look." Sora looked at his arm, and like a vacuum, the wound sucked up the loose blood, and then sealed shut. It would have made Sora nauseous, but he was used to these kinds of things by now.

"And in here…" Frank opened the big freezer, and Sora went in. He realized he felt no coldness form the freezer, and put it down to his 'abilities'. He took the box Frank pointed to, and closed it.

Sora opened the box to reveal many big plastic see-through packets, all containing a red liquid: blood. Sora knew this immediately, and felt an urge to grab one, but Frank closed it.

"You have to learn how to deal with your problem."

"What problem?"

"Whenever you see blood, you let the thirst for it take over. So we are going to test you. Now obviously, as it's always dark in this place, you won't ever be able to sleep here, and you won't need to. Before I heal you, I'm gonna test you. I'm gonna leave this box here on the ground, and you're gonna stay on the bed. Let's see if you can hold out for 24 hours without leaving the bed, or at least touching the box. Agreed?"

"24 Hours? That's ages!"

"But to you and me it'll seem like a minute. Now sit on the bed and keep your eyes on the box, but no touching. Don't let _him _tell you what to do."

Sora wondered what he meant by that, but not wanting to start a fight with this big man, he did as he was told.

"I'll be back in an hour. And just to make sure you won't cheat…"

Frank proceeded to put a silver lock on the freezer (gauntlets protect him from it). He than took away Sora's gauntlets and long-sleeved jacket. He left the room and locked the door, again with a silver lock. (Don't worry readers, he's not punishing him, he's training him! In a way.)

He went down to the kitchen, and found Riku getting a drink from the fridge.

"I didn't expect you of all people to have this kind of stuff."

"I was expecting you, so I got some food and drink I know you'll like. I don't really care for it, though."

"Well, um, thanks."

"Hey, I'm hospitable."

Frank decided to sit in the study while he waited for the hour to pass, so he could go check on Sora.

Frank decided to check on Sora, quarter hour early, and found him lying on the bed, clutching his head. Frank knew what was probably going on inside his head.

(_Italics is Sora thinking, **bold italics is Anti-Sora thinking.**_)

"_**Take It! You need it to stay alive!"**_

"_No! I won't take it! You won't win me over!"_

"**_Oh, but I will. You'll slip up eventually. You will eventually fall into darkness, and I'll be there when you do… Don't ever think I am weaker than you. We are the same person, so if you get stronger, I get stronger… just remember that."_**

Sora relinquished his hold on his own head, and looked around the room to see Frank standing there.

"Personality problems?"

"Shut up. You don't know anything."

"I know he wants you to take it. And at your current strength, it is stupid to resist him. But you're getting better."

Frank picked a packet out of the box, and chucked it to Sora.

"Take it. You earned it." Frank put the rest away in the freezer.

Sora looked at the packet. He knew that this is what his Anti wanted, but he had no choice. Maybe if he had more strength though… maybe if he had more red stuff running in his veins, he could fight it.

He took the cap off the tubular top, and began to suck out its contents. As it began to enter his system, he began to chew on the end of the tube, wanting more. He eventually split it at the end, and began to drink it like a carton of juice. He didn't stop until he had taken every last drop, licking any leftover drops in or on the packet. After he was done, he gave the same devilish grin he made after he had sucked the life out of that other vampire. After a while, he frowned. Even though he accepted what he was now, he still hated what he had to do to keep his strength. He wanted to know why they targeted him. If they would've just left him alone, he would've never even bothered with getting involved.

But the King Mickey would've probably just sent him a message, asking him to get involved. Sora took a deep sigh. Being the Keyblade Master had its disadvantages. He just wanted to stay on Destiny Islands with his friends. Was that too much to ask?

A knock was heard on the door. Frank opened it, and it turned out to be Riku.

"I wanna talk to Sora."

Frank didn't say anything; instead he walked out of the room and closed the door behind himself.

Riku looked at Sora. He was showing off his fangs as usual, but blood stained them. And it was still crimson red, so it was recent.

"My god…" Riku felt that he was losing Sora in some way, as if Sora was becoming an emotionless monster. He pushed those thoughts out of his head, refusing to believe that. Sora would become human again, and they would both go back to see Kairi, alive and well.

"I'm fine, no need to worry."

"Well you don't look it. You look pale. Very pale." Riku was right. While Frank's skin wasn't white and neither was Sora's, he was very pale, as if he was very sick.

"Well I feel great. I feel… strong. I hope this means I'm ready to take on that family of vamps, because I need the strength!"

Sora planted a trademark goofy grin on his own face, making Riku snigger. "No matter how many times you do that, I never stop laughing."

"Guess it's what makes me who i am."

Riku smiled. The Sora he knew so well was still there. Maybe things would turn out better than he expected. Sora didn't really suit the whole vampire thing anyway.

A day later…

Riku began to load the stuff onto the gummi ship. Fuel, repair kits, and blood (for Sora).

"You're welcome back here anytime. And Sophie? Make sure they don't get into any trouble, will you?" Frank said.

"Sure." Sophie responded

"You mean she's coming with us? Sora and I are fine by ourselves." Riku complained.

"Looks like you need all the help you can get, big man. So shush, because I won't ask twice."

Riku grumbled angrily, while Sora pushed him onto the ship (he could lift him but let's not go too far with the strength thing yet.).

"Thanks for the help, Frank." Sora said to Frank.

"No problem kid. Just get _him _under control. Do that and you are safe from anything if you put your mind to it."

"Thanks again."

Sora then turned and boarded the ship with Sophie. The door shut, the engines geared up, and they left with haste.

"Y'know, I don't really like kids. And yet… I kinda like having that kid Sora and his friend Riku over here. They're interesting."

Frank smiled as the gummi ship left his view.

"Be safe, kid…"

**End Chapter**

**Authors Note:** I meant to send this off on Wednesday but I forgot, so I added a bit more dialogue to it, like explaining part of what Frank did in that hour of making Sora wait.


	13. Chapter 12: Hollow Bastion

**Authors Note:** A week I have left you all, a week! Well, now its two weeks actually, nearly 3 :(… I feel ashamed for letting you down, but here is an update nonetheless.

**Important Note:** I will be adding a story called 'Profiles' to my account soon, so you get the full low-down on who someone is, or what they've been doing since KHII (if they were in the KH series). It's just so you don't have to scan the entire series to know who everyone is.

**Chapter 1****2: Hollow Bastion**

Sora and crew landed at a world Sora and Riku knew was familiar. Sophie on the other hand had never been here, but she had heard of it. Hollow Bastion. To Sophie, it gave her an idea of what Frank's outside might look like (dreary, for example, it hasn't changed much since KHII).

"Right, first step would be to find Cloud. The more, the merrier, in my opinion." Sora said, laying out their first task.

"Well, where can we find him?"

"That's the thing. He's hard to find. But he could be in the marketplace or at Merlin's House…"

"Well then, let's check."

Sora and company checked the town out, but no sign of Cloud anywhere. They eventually went to Merlin's House.

"Ah, Sora, Riku! Hello, haven't seen you in a while!" Merlin greeted them. He stood up fro m his chair. "And who is the girl?"

"Sophie." She answered simply.

"Well then, you must be here about the new, err, enemy."

"Not really, we know mostly all there is to know." Sora replied

"Oh, I was hoping to give you the rundown myself, but if you have already been briefed…"

"We're looking for Cloud." Riku interrupted.

"Cloud? Haven't seen him in a while. Cid might know."

"Where's he at?" Sora asked.

"Ansem's old castle. He's been using the computer there to keep track and monitor the defence system for the town."

"Been having trouble with Heartless?" Sora asked.

"They never do give up easily, do they?" Riku added.

"Oh come on Riku…" Merlin said in an annoyed tone.

"I know, I know, 'As long as darkness exists in a single heart, it will be difficult to completely eliminate them.'"

"Well, I see you remember the basics."

"In that case, we'll go check out the castle. Still as it was?" Sora asked

"Why wouldn't it be?" Merlin answered.

"Okay then, see ya!"

As they walked out the door, Merlin called Riku back.

"By the way Riku, take these." Merlin took out a number of glowing objects, and chucked them at Riku, and they absorbed themselves into Riku's body. He had learned all the magic that Sora knew.

"A little souvenir for the journey."

"Thanks." Riku said. He then proceeded to run off and catch up with his friends.

They headed straight for the castle, and found it had not changed in the slightest. The halls were still wrecked or damaged, and the odd Heartless still roamed, but strangely enough, most of the Heartless seemed to ignore the party.

They eventually found the computer room, and there was Cid, working away as usual. They knocked on the wall, startling him.

"Whoa! Geeze, can't you young fellas just knock a little quieter?" Cid complained. Sora rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, with Sophie clearly annoyed.

"Um, this is Cid. Cid, this is Sophie." Sora said before anyone else could react to Cid.

'Hi' Sophie and Cid said at the same time, but Cid continued to speak.

"Hey, Sora, what's with the- oh, yeah, I remember, Merlin told me."

"I was wondering why everyone was oblivious to it, now I know." Sora was a bit annoyed that Merlin didn't tell him everyone knew, but he brushed it aside.

"Look, Cid, we need to find Cloud. Have you seen him?" Riku asked Cid.

"I seen him recently, said he was going to 'find the darkness and snuff it out', or something like that. I never pay attention to the stuff he says, makes no sense to me."

"Find the darkness…" Sora pondered on the quote, then realised what he meant. "Oh no… we gotta go. Now." Sora was desperate to get going.

"Hey, what's the hurry? Hey, wait up!" Riku ran after Sora, who was already on his way. Sophie followed from behind.

"Those kids…" Cid muttered as he sat back down and got back to work.

Sora ran as fast as he could, not stopping until he reached the outskirts of the city. Riku came up shortly behind him, panting from exhaustion, while Sophie had caught up with him easily already.

"Jeeze… What's the rush?" Riku asked.

"If I'm right, then Cloud is in great danger. He's going to fight his darkness. The last time they fought…"

_(Hollow Bastion, Dark Depths)_

"_Cloud…"_

_Cloud continued to walk toward the tall grey-haired figure that stood before him. The figure of his darkness. Sephiroth…_

"…_You'll never let go of the darkness." Sephiroth uttered, finishing his sentence._

"_Shut up." Cloud replied, readying his sword._

"_You'll never let go of your past…" _

"_SHUT UP!" Cloud screamed, rushing at Sephiroth._

_The battle was fierce, neither one letting up or giving the other a chance to rest or regain any lost balance. As the battle raged on, Sora, Donald and Goofy stood by the side._

"_Shouldn't we help him, Sora?" Donald asked Sora._

"_This is Cloud's battle. We mustn't interfere." Sora looked at Donald and then Goofy, a determined look in his eyes. "Cloud, get him!" Sora shouted, rooting for his friend._

_The battle continued, with no-one able to gain an upper hand. They were evenly matched. They locked swords, trying to push the other away._

"_Absurd… defeating me is meaningless, Cloud. You know that more than anyone. No matter how many times you defeat me, your darkness keeps calling me back."_

_Cloud began to slowly falter, until a familiar voice called out: "You're wrong, Sephiroth." Cloud knew instantly it was Tifa._

"_Tifa! Stay out of this!" Cloud shouted to his childhood friend._

"_How can I? I wanna help you!" She replied with worry in her voice._

_Sephiroth and Cloud broke their struggle and stepped back._

"_He can't. He'll never let go of the darkness…" Sephiroth was determined make everyone, especially Cloud, realize his words as truth, but no-one was believing it._

"_Who says he has to? All he needs is someone to surround him with light."_

_Sephiroth turned his word on Tifa, but she dodged it._

"_The darkness will be there, Sephiroth, but in a place you can't reach."_

_Sephiroth started swinging at Tifa, but she easily dodged the shots like they were nothing. Just as Sephiroth was about to make a lunge, Cloud deflected it._

"_Cloud… You can have my light…" Tifa said to Cloud._

"_I just…" Cloud began to glow. "…don't know."_

"_STOP!" Sephiroth shouted, rushing at Cloud again. This time, Cloud found a different power flowing through him. It was the power of friendship. He defended himself against Sephiroth. Despite Sephiroth trying even harder now, Cloud had no trouble in dodging or blocking the shots. Eventually, they flew into the sky, and then at each other. A brilliant explosion of light occurred, and when the light faded, both Cloud and Sephiroth had disappeared without a trace._

"…And I never saw Cloud again." Sora finished his description of the battle.

"So, we're technically looking for a guy that might have never even been here?" Riku asked.

"I don't know how I forgot… but nonetheless, I'm sure he's at the Dark Depths."

"then let's stop wasting time and get over there!" Sophie requested.

"Right!"

As they ran through the Great Maw, their travels did not go unnoticed. As Sora thought, there was Sephiroth, atop a mountain lying between Sora and his location.

"Just as I expected… he's back…" Sephiroth smiled.

"But this time… I have other plans for him… but first, I will tend to trivial matters."

He turned to the Dark Depths. And there, looking around, was Cloud. He did not know what awaited him in the very near future.

So what does Sephiroth have planned for Sora and Cloud? Does he have an interest in Sora because of his newfound 'darkness'? Find out in the next chapter! See ya!

**End Chapter**

**Authors Notes:** I started this thing on Tuesday, but kept forgetting to finish it, so it got dragged along for a few days. Sorry. But at least it's a bit of a longer than most of my other chapters. Anyway, see ya!


	14. Chapter 13: One Winged Terror

**Authors Note:** OMFG! HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN? DAMN YOU GEARS OF WAR! Sorry I totally forgot about the whole thing (irresponsible of me I know), and the reason why is not a good one, as it has nothing to do with Kingdom Hearts, does it? I still play Final Mix+ though, so that is also partly to blame… for the first week of absence, that is.

**Chapter 13: One-Winged Evil**

Cloud looked around, like he was trying to find something… or someone.

"Sephiroth… I know you're here."

"Never wrong, are we, Cloud?"

Sephiroth jumped down to Cloud's level, and drew his sword.

"I'm in a hurry, so be a good boy and die." Sephiroth said, in his typical style.

"Never." Cloud said, refusing to bend to his will.

"You will never learn, will you, Cloud…" He slashed at Cloud, and the fighting began. The fight was even more intense than last time, but Sephiroth seemed to have the upper hand throughout.

'What the… we are supposed to be equals in strength! So why does he seem to be stronger than me? He must be up to something…'

**Meanwhile…**

Sora and company were having trouble with Heartless now, and they were piling up all around them as they continued to make their way to Cloud's location, albeit slowly.

"Damn! Where are they all coming from? The more we beat, the more they keep coming!" Riku complained.

They had suddenly sprung up while they were making their way through the Great Maw, and they were not just trying to ambush Sora, they wanted him badly. Why else would they send so many brethren after them?

"We need to keep moving! We're making no progress staying in one spot!" Sora shouted to his team mates.

They continued to advance forward, but at a faster pace now, only disposing of Heartless that got in their way.

They would soon reach the Dark Depths…

Sephiroth and Cloud continued to battle it out, but Cloud was starting to falter. No matter how hard he tried, or how much he believed he was stronger than him, he couldn't keep up with him. They eventually reached a standoff.

"You've… gotten… stronger, Sephiroth…" Cloud said, taking deep breaths.

"Well, I couldn't allow you to be the stronger one, could I? It hampers my plans. Besides, the darkness is always stronger than the light."

"No it isn't. You know it isn't."

"Then tell me… why would Sora think that I'm right?"

"What?"

"You don't know? He is one with the darkness now. He took the power willingly. What does that tell you?"

"No, he… he wouldn't… You're lying. I'm not stupid."

"You're not. That's why you believe me."

"But…"

"You find it hard to believe. That is understandable. I mean, you thought you knew him. But despite all that, he turned his back on his friends. He left the islands that he lived on."

Cloud's eyes went wide. He refused to believe this, but… why did it sound so believable? This was Sora they were talking about. Happy, cheery, Sora.

"His friends saw the impeding danger and attempted to assist him in ridding himself of it. But even they didn't know he was doing the opposite… welcoming it. And when he was given a choice, he chose the darkness."

Cloud tried his best to think of a reason why Sora would choose the darkness over his friends. But then he thought of past endeavours. Sora was the type who would do anything for his friends, but sometimes make silly mistakes. Was this a 'silly mistake'? No, it was something much worse than that. Cloud thought he was lying, until…

"Cl--- Sephiroth!" Sora shouted as he arrived at last.

Cloud turned to face him, as Sephiroth spoke out.

"Well, you took your time. Anyway, I have business to attend. Remember what I said, Cloud."

And with that, Sephiroth disappeared in a ball of darkness.

Cloud looked at Sora, and noticed the difference between then and now.

"You've grown. But… those eyes…" Cloud looked endlessly into those red eyes.

"Long story. Anyway, why was Sephiroth here?"

"I'm not sure, but…" Cloud thought about what Sephiroth had said. He decided, against his better judgment to ask him a few questions.

"Who are your new friends?" Cloud was suspicious of them, not yet having met Riku.

"Oh, this is Riku and Sophie." Cloud felt more at ease. Sora had constantly mentioned Riku as well as Kairi… but where was she?

"So Kairi didn't come with you?" He asked Sora.

"We wouldn't put her in that much danger. Something is wrong, and I'm not about to let her get captured or hurt again."

Cloud had been reassured. Sephiroth was lying. But why would he ever feel that Sephiroth was… partly-right?

"Hmph. So, you gonna explain those? And those?" He pointed to Sora's red eyes and fangs.

They spent a while explaining the situation to Cloud. Afterwards, they asked him to help them out.

"So, you're a vampire… wouldn't have expected it to happen to you of all people. Anyway, you were looking for me because?" Cloud said.

"We wondered if you had any information on the family we mentioned. Anything out of the ordinary recently?" Sora asked.

"I'm never really in town…"

'I think that's obvious…' Sora thought, remembering what Cloud was like.

"But when I was talking to Cid once, he mentioned that someone had been spying on the castle for little while, then he disappeared. Then, a few days ago, he felt like he was back, watching him again."

"Well, the only valuable or important things that I know are the keyhole and Ansem's computer, so let's check those things out."

They all went back to the castle, and checked around, but found nothing out of the ordinary. They decided that the computer may have been the target, due to it's intense so they decided to watch it overnight.

"So we just make sure nothing happens, like a break-in or anything?"

"Yeah. We can all stay. Including you Cid."

"Oh, for godsakes…"

"Just shut up and keep your eyes open."

They stayed up all night (though you couldn't tell as it was nearly always dark), but it seemed like the sandman refused to let them stay up. Even Sora found it difficult to keep his eyes open, despite it being near impossible for vampires to sleep at night. Eventually, everyone had fallen asleep, even Sora.

_Sora's Dream_

_Sora opened his eyes, and saw the room again, but it was all black and white, and really blurry, not to mention the edge of his eyesight looked like it was being dragged away from his vision._

_He saw someone walk through the window, and turn on the computer. He wore a large black trenchcoat, and shadows encompassed his face. Sora was unable to see what he was doing, but he saw him reach for the disk insert slot, and keep his hand there, as if waiting for something. He saw some form of fluid or energy pour out of the slot and be absorbed into the persons hand. When he was done, he turned off the computer, and walked towards Sora. He felt like he couldn't move, and stood in awe as the person walked right through him. He felt like his body had just been sapped of every bit of energy he had, and fell back into the chair…_

His eyes shot open and saw normal again. It was a dream… then why did it feel so real? He looked around the room and caught a glimpse of the clock. 6:10am. The sun would rise soon. He closed the blinds and thought about shutting the manufactory door, but left it, knowing he might wake everyone else up.

Sora heard a mumble behind him that was foreign to him, but he turned and saw nothing.

But suddenly he realised… where was Sophie?

His question was answered as she came in through the door.

"Oh, you're awake… And no, I don't know why you and I fell asleep of all people."

"I still feel sleepy…"

"Still getting used to it? I know, it's hard. But you'll get used to it in the next few years or so…"

"Years?"

"Kid, I know this is hard, but, as far as I know, there is no 'cure', or 'remedy' for being a vampire. You're stuck as you are."

Sora went from tired to shocked and depressed. His eyes went wide. Stuck like this forever?

"Don't worry about the sun, kiddo. You'll eventually build up a resistance to it, and soon it'll be like it can't harm you."

Silence filled the room, and Sora dipped his head in sadness.

"But that's not what you're worried about, is it?"

"I'm worried about whether others will accept me… for what I am now…"

Sophie was unable to answer, not knowing what he felt. Fear. Fear of being left out. It was once what Riku felt, but now Sora felt he might soon know what the feeling was like.

"You know, Riku always described you as a happy kid, but you're always depressed whenever I see you…"

Sora looked up at Sophie and managed a sad smile. She laughed lightly.

"Yeah, that's it! Just lighten up, kid! Your friends are counting on you, don't let them down. But don't let that fact drag you down either, okay?"

Sora smiled more properly this time, making Sophie smile back.

"So, you trust me. Friends?"

"Friends." Sora held out his closed fist. She playfully hit it to indicate her acceptance.

After another hour, everyone woke up.

"So, he didn't turn up?" Cid said.

"Well, I doubt this matters, but I had this weird dream…" Sora started.

"Not now, Sora…" Cloud said

"No, it's important!"

"Come on guys, give Sora his say. Go on Sora." Riku told everyone.

"Well, I had this weird dream. I was in this room, but none of you were here. Then this guy came walked through the window, and accessed the computer. I couldn't see what he was doing, but he seemed to have this stream of light or energy coming from the disk slot to his hand. When he was done, he walked right through me, I collapsed, and then I woke up."

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Cid shouted. "All the data is gone! Nothing is here! All my files, all the old data, gone! And I was so close to hacking it as well!"

Everyone crowded round the computer. A message reading 'ERROR: MISSING DATA, PLEASE REINSTALL HARDWARE' was out in bold letters across the screen.

Sora's eyes went wide. He had seen what had happened. Or was it what was to happen?

Riku looked at Sora for one second, then pulled him to one corner.

"Sora… didn't this happen before?" Riku questioned him.

"I was trying to forget… no-one ever looked at me the same again…" Sora complained.

"We will need to tell the others…"

"No! We don't tell them! They'll hate me for it…"

"They won't… oh, forget it. Come on, he can't have gone far."

They all decided to split up into two teams to try and find the culprit. Sora, Riku and Cloud would go one way, while Sophie and Cid would go another. The plan was set, and they were off.

Why did Sora dream about what happened before him while he slept? Does it have to do with what he is afraid of telling the others? Who took the data? Are these questions annoying? Find out in the next instalment!

**End Chapter**

**Authors Note:** Again, apologies for the extreme lateness of this chapter. I have made it up to you, haven't I?


	15. Chapter 14: Master of Shadows

**Authors Note:** Once again, I have taken ages to update. But unfortunately, this is the future of my story. Updates will be sparse, so put the story on your Story Alert thing so your email tells you when I update. Sorry, but this is the way we must go if I am to keep this story going. And I want to keep this story going.

**Chapter 14****: Master of Shadows**

Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden – Team Riku (Riku and Cloud) (Sora is on his own, sorry for the mistake in last chapter)

The team had decided to search the city while Cid and Sophie searched the outskirts of the world. Technically, Team Sora had the toughest job as they had to ask everyone and check everywhere for information, but kept turning up dry. One person threw them out because Cloud got angry, freaking out the customers. They were able to turn up nothing, and they couldn't see anything out of the ordinary themselves.

"Sorry sir, I've haven't seen anything strange. I can't help you." a merchant said.

"Well, this is getting us nowhere. We've tried the whole city and found nothing. No-one has any strange activities to report, or anything out of the ordinary." Riku said.

"Well, maybe Sora is having more luck, I mean, if the guy is a vampire, he definitely won't be out in the sunlight. He'll most likely be in the sewers." Cloud replied.

"Well, let's check the inn, then." Riku said.

"Why there?" Cloud asked, confused.

"Well, the inn has rooms with no windows, and the ones that do an easy way of covering them up, and it wouldn't look suspicious

Meanwhile, Sora had taken to sewers to find any info (He took this path as he was a vampire, and therefore susceptible to the sun). He had also discovered his brilliant eyesight down here. Even in the pitch black, he could see perfectly. He thought that if the guy that he saw was real, and he was a vampire, he would likely be down here.

Sora found a mirror down in the sewers (albeit a damaged one, but not cracked) and saw his reflection. What he saw, he didn't like. His eyes were the most noticeable, as they were glowing their usual blood red. His fangs were a bit sharper and longer now, and if they got any longer they would be sticking out of his mouth all the time, even with his lips tightly shut. He also saw that his muscles had increased noticeably. His arms were bulkier, and his legs looked like he did a hell of a lot of running. He looked under his vest and saw he was on his way to developing a six-pack, and fast. He rolled his eyes in annoyance. 'Damn, I liked having no muscles, now I'm turning into Riku' he thought. But the one thing that made him afraid the most was that his face looked… different. He couldn't tell how, exactly, but it just didn't look the same as when he had begun this journey. He let it go and continued to walk on.

He had noticed some blood marks down in the sewers. He was able to tell they were fresh by tasting them (don't berate me, he needs the blood and you know it), which he would have found nasty to do usually, but he knew he needed as much as he could get (he didn't want to resort to… that…). Anyway, he was turning up no progress other than the obvious fact. However, as he continued along, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being followed, and the deeper he went into the sewers, the stronger the feeling became. He eventually made his keyblade summoning stance, knowing that nothing would come (and nothing did). He already missed his keyblade. It had made him feel more secure, but now that he had somehow lost the ability to summon it to his call, he felt more vulnerable.

He instead on instinct, turned it into a punch at whatever was behind him. To his surprise, he saw nothing, but it felt like he hit something with that punch. Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of him, on the floor. He had shock in his eyes, which Sora soon copied in equal shock.

It was the person he saw in his dream! He got a better look at him and noticed he seemed really young and had long black hair that had a few blond spikes in it (Think Riku's hair in KH2 only a bit longer and a different colour). He couldn't see most of his body as he was wearing a long-sleeved sweater with a large overcoat. His jeans were black and had a strange tribal pattern on the left leg in white and red going from the top to the bottom of the leg. He also had a red and black belt with the buckle another strange tribal pattern, only this time made of metal (obviously) and only coloured dark silver.

"Crap!" he said, and without another word, he booted Sora in the face and ran off, but the kick didn't send Sora off his feet as he quickly regained his balance and ran after him.

"Stop! Who are you?" Sora shouted as he ran up the wall. Wait, ran? The mysterious guy went straight for the vent, and then doing something Sora didn't expect.

He ran right through the vent as if it wasn't there.

Sora was about to give chase, but as soon as he put a hand out for the ladder, he got a burn from the sun. "OW! Jesus!" He screamed as he yanked his hand back. 'Great, more burns!' he thought as his hand and wrist again began to smoke lightly. Boy, did it hurt like nothing else, he thought, but there was no time to lose. He needed to contact Riku, and fast. But how? He didn't have a phone. He couldn't go out in the sunlight to find him, and even if he waited for the clouds to come along it was too dangerous. He closed his eyes in failure.

But suddenly he noticed something. He could hear something. He could hear Riku and Cloud talking to someone. He listened to them for a while.

"Hello, welcome to the Radiant Inn! Are you looking for a room?" Another voice said. It was the innkeeper.

"Actually, we're looking for someone. And it's very important we find them." Riku told the woman.

"Well, I'll be glad to help. Who is it? I'll check the listings."

"Well, we don't know their name."

"Then I can't help you, sorry."

"Well, the person we're looking for would probably sleep in a room with no windows, and only come out at night and eats little to nothing." Cloud said.

"Well, there is one person, rented out a room, but I have not seen his face ever. Even when he asked for the room, he wrote it in the lodge book himself and I never saw him. He also leaves the daily rent for the room very day at 7:00pm and I never see him." The innkeeper said, with concern in her voice.

"Okay, we'll come at 6:30pm and watch for him. Let's go get Sora."

"_Wait, Riku! He knows we're after him!" Sora shouted out loud._

'S…Sora?' Riku thought.

"_Yes, Riku, it's me. I think I've found a way for us to keep in contact- anyway, listen, I saw him, the guy from my dream, and as soon as I saw him, he ran away into the streets and disappeared!"_

'I see. Sora, what was that you first said?'

"_He may know that we are waiting for him at the inn, but we will meet there anyway.__ Sun goes down at 5:30pm tonight, so he should be there."_

'5:30? How do you know that, Sora? They have weather reports here?'

"_No, it's just… I felt like it was common sense."_

'Oh… well, ok, we'll meet you wherever you are. You okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"_No, if anything__ I hurt him. I actually feel and look stronger now, Riku, you should see my body."_

'Um, okay. We'll see you there. Don't worry, we'll bring a torch-'

"_Or you can use the keyblade, ya goof."_

'Oh yeah, forgot abut that…'

The conversation ended there and Sora opened his eyes. He realised he felt thirsty again. Whenever he felt thirsty he always got worried. He couldn't get back to the Gummi Ship without exposing himself to the sunlight, so that was out of the question…

His thinking was interrupted as he received a kick from behind, but he readied himself for battle.

'Great, more vampires' he thought.

"You shouldn't be down here little boy."

"You clearly don't know who I am. This is your only chance. Turn around and walk away, or you will pay the price."

The group, three in total, all laughed before going for Sora. But Sora found he was way quicker than all of them, and in seconds, they were all on the floor.

He stared at the vampires as they were down and had a long think.

'Well, if I want to survive, I have to feed. I'll do my best to avoid going crazy, but I can only hope this works. I'm sorry Riku…'

He picked up one of the vampires, and exposed his neck, baring his fangs.

'Forgive me…' he thought as he sank his fangs into the vampires. He sat there for a while until he had taken every last ounce of blood from him, then threw the body back as it dispersed into ash. He then proceeded to suck the other two dry, making heavy breathing noises as he finished off the third. He looked at his hands, smiling demonically, his eyes now completely red with a thin black line going from top to bottom on each. He was letting his anti-form take over as his hair slightly grew longer and his body began to ooze a black inky substance, much like the darkness Heartless came out of.

Suddenly, he began to hit himself in the head, making wailing noises as the darkness crept up all around his body, having yet to cover his head, but having covered up all of his arms and legs. He kept hitting himself in the head until, albeit slowly, the darkness began to go away.

Eventually, the darkness was all gone, and Sora's eyes were in their normal state again (although still with a blood red cornea, yay, I found out what it was called!). He heard footsteps coming from across the hallway, and stood up, readying himself for an attack.

But that attack never came. It instead turned out to be Riku and Cloud, and also accompanying them were Cid and Sophie.

"Hey, Sora, it took us a little while to find you." Riku said.

"Yeah, sorry about that, I didn't know what else to do. But that's not important right now." Sora replied.

"Ya damn right it's not important! That burglar's got all my data and I want it back!" Cid shouted.

'Your data?' Cloud thought to himself.

"Well then, let's get to the inn. We're burning time here." Sora said.

Radiant Inn – 7:00pm

The gang were all set up and ready. Riku and Cloud sat in the reception. Cid was on his laptop, watching what the inn's security cameras could see. Sophie and Sora were well hidden in the shadows, with Sophie in the sewers while Sora was hidden in the inn. He was hidden so well that Sophie could barely see him, it seemed.

They waited.

And waited.

Suddenly a heavy presence made everyone fall asleep except the innkeeper and Sora. Sora's vision went black and white again, as he saw the person enter he room and put the money (or is that munny?) on the table. Sora didn't think twice and gave the guy a tackle, seemingly waking everybody up at the same time.

"It's him!" Sora shouted, but the guy tackled him and ran away, with everyone giving chase, however, only Sora could keep up, and Sophie was following via the sewers.

Eventually, the guy jumped in to the sewers, with Sora following (although he had to take the grate out first). They kept running after him, and eventually came to a large area in the sewers. As they entered, all of the doors in the room shut tight. Looks like this was going to be Sora and Sophie against whomever this person was.

"Who are you?" Sora shouted.

"Quiet Sora, do you really think he'll tell us his name?" Sophie whispered to him.

"Well, you were smart enough to find me, so I believe you deserve the honour. My name is Zangyre… and this, Sora, is where you will be tested." The man said.

"Tested?" Sora asked, confused.

"Yes, tested. To see if you are worthy of the blood you carry within you. If you pass, then you and your friends will be allowed to leave safely. But if you lose…" Shadows became wrapped around his hand and wrist. "Then you will find out why I am referred to as the 'Master of Shadows'…"

Zangyre walked slowly toward Sora and Sophie.

Can Sora survive the test? Or will he perish here and now? And who is Zangyre anyway? Find out in the next chapter!

**End Chapter**

**Authors Note:** There you go.


	16. Chapter 15: Test of Strength

**Authors Note:** It appears I made a mistake in the last chapter; I called the iris the cornea. Thanks for the pointer, owns-all-nobodies!

**Chapter 15: Test of Strength**

Underground Hollow Bastion – Time Unknown

Sora and Sophie stood ready to battle Zangyre as he slowly stepped forward. He showed no emotions on his face as he began to gather a small amount of darkness in his hand, what looked like the darkness that Heartless were made out of. Then, out of nowhere, darkness sprung up from the ground and sent Sophie flying. When she landed, Sora could tell she was knocked out.

"Well, it isn't very fair if it's 2 on 1, now is it?" Zangyre told Sora in a matter-of-fact tone.

"For all I know, you could be really strong and I might need the help!" Sora shouted.

"I always knew you couldn't stand up on your own two feet in life. From your younger days as a child, to battling the Heartless and Nobodies, you always had people by your side, because alone, you are worthless!"

"That's not true! I can defend myself!"

"Then prove it! Fight me like a true warrior!"

"I can't! I… don't have the keyblade."

"I know. It has left you for a certain reason I will not discuss. You can get it back, but I will not tell you that either. You must discover it yourself as you fight me, or you will die here."

Zangyre then gathered more darkness in his hands and threw it at Sora. Sora was easily able to dodge the first volley, but Zangyre had thrown a second volley and that made contact. Sora was thrown back much like Sophie, but didn't get knocked out.

For the next few minutes, it was an uphill struggle. Sora couldn't land one hit on Zangyre (and the lack of his magic know-how was a definite drawback), and yet Sora was being pounded at every waking moment. He then realised he had one shot to get it right, as Zangyre had left himself open to an attack. Sora wasted no time in attempting decoy measures by making Zangyre think he was attacking from one side, but attack from the other side. Unfortunately, Sora was just not fast enough, and Zangyre knew he was going to try it before he started. He grabbed Sora by the leg and enveloped it in darkness, then let go, all so fast Sora never realised. Just as Sora stood upright, ready to leap at Zangyre, the darkness n Sora's leg made a sort of beam to Zangyre's hand, which was still covered in darkness. Without warning, he yanked the beam, causing Sora to fly over him and into the wall. He wasn't done there however, as he pulled on it again and again, and again, until Sora showed no signs of movement.

"As long as you don't have the Keyblade, you are weak." Zangyre said, continuing to walk towards Sora.

"Just another pitiful vampire from the alleyway who thinks he's so tough…" He stopped walking and gathered a large amount of darkness in both his hands before mixing the darkness together to form a ball of darkness about the size of a blitzball.

"Waiting, to be put out of your misery." He thrust down at Sora with the darkness.

But before the darkness could bake contact with him, a bright light flashed before him, and he opened his eyes to see…

Darkness. Nothing but darkness. He looked down and noticed he was now standing up, but where was the floor, and why did this place seem vaguely familiar?

Suddenly, light bellowed from the now visible ground below him, as it transformed in to a massive stain glass floor. He knew where he was now. The Station of Serenity. He looked at the stain glass, which had a different design from the last time he was here. He saw himself and Riku standing next to each other, but with their backs to each other and their eyes closed. He also noticed all his old friends in the background. Kairi, Tidus, Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Cloud, Wakka, Selphie. He looked further, and also saw Donald, Goofy, and Mickey.

'Wow… all my friends are always beside me, as they always were…' Sora thought.

But what he noticed next was that the image of him showed his eyes open. And the eyes were red, just like now. But what scared him the most was that darkness seemed to be emanating from that part of the glass, but not over taking the picture.

'So that's why I can't use the keyblade… I'm falling into darkness? Is it because of what I am now?'

'_It is because you believe there is no hope… because you believe your heart can no longer overcome darkness… because you think that you now live in darkness.' A mysterious voice said calmly In Sora's head._

'But… don't I?"

'_But do not fear. Your light is as pure as any, and can overcome the biggest darkness of all…'_

'Light… Always overcomes… Darkness…'

'_If you realise this, then you will regain your true strength. You know of what I speak. But first… you must be tested.'_

And right on cue, several Heartless appeared off the floor from the darkness, all Shadows and NeoShadows. They slowly began to walk towards Sora, who was still defenceless. He looked around, reciting the line in his head.

'Light… overcomes… Darkness…'

A path appeared to Sora's left. Sora immediately took the path, dodging an incoming Heartless and ran to wherever the path took him.

The path seems to go on for ages, but eventually Sora reached another big, round stain glass floor, much like the last one, almost the same, only it only showed Sora and no-one else. Like the last one also, the image of him was emanating darkness.

The path disappeared as suddenly, and again, Heartless appeared all around Sora. He was trapped.

Without warning, a NeoShadow sprang at Sora, and with a last ditch attempt, he shouted out his best friends names, swinging his hand as if he still had Keyblade.

"Kairi! Riku!"

Sora awoke back in the real world to realise he had blocked Zangyre's attack with none other than the Keyblade, albeit with a new design. Zangyre was stunned by this, and unable to react fast enough, Sora swatted him away with the Keyblade.

Zangyre got to his feet with a shocked look on his face. That face quickly turned to a calm one. 'So, he has his precious Keyblade back. So be it.'

Zangyre and Sora then began to trade blows with each other, neither one letting up. They both were determined to put the other down.

Sora eventually pushed Zangyre back, and then went for the finisher.

"Strike Raid!" Sora shouted as he threw the Keyblade like a boomerang. It connected the first time, and Sora called it back to throw a second time. He threw it 2 more times and connected, and went for the fourth and final blow. But before he could connect with it, Zangyre disappeared and reappeared behind Sora. Sora sensed this and immediately called back the Keyblade, but he was stuck from behind just as it re-entered his grasp. Sora turned this round, and threw it again. This time however, Zangyre caught the Keyblade and threw it back at Sora. Sora, not expecting him to grab the Keyblade, was struck by the rebound.

"Well done, Sora, I commend you. You have done better than I expected. However, it is not in your best wishes to follow the path you are taking. You should let all your problems go. You do not need to fear us. Join us…" Zangyre said calmly, the last two sentences in a low tone.

"No! I don't care what it is you guys are planning, or how I am involved, but if you guys try anything, then I'll stop you!" Sora shouted. He than noticed Sophie was getting to her feet. He pulled her up.

Like clockwork, the doors leading to the room were all opened simultaneously, allowing Riku and company to get inside at last.

"You guys okay?" Riku said as he ran up to Sora.

"Yeah, we're okay. You hear that, Zangyre? As long as we're still standing, we'll take you all down!" Sora shouted.

"_Oh, you'll take us all down, will you?" a mysterious voice announced._

"Ah, he has decided to grace us with his presence…" Zangyre said, as he looked up smiling lightly.

"Who's there? Show yourselves!" Riku shouted.

"_This one is feisty. And th__ey believe they are worthy enough to see me in person…" many laughs were suddenly heard. By the sound of things, more than one person was with this unknown._

Sora looked to the ceiling with angry eyes.

"_We will meet soon enough, Sora. Until then… keep up the good work." Again, many people laughed. And with that, he was not heard from again._

They looked around the room and noticed that Zangyre had run off. But in his spot was a disk. Cid walked over to it and picked it up, looking at it curiously.

"Hmm… this must be the stolen data, I'll have to take this back to the castle and get it loaded back onto the hard driver of that computer."

"Well than, I think we're done here. But just in case, we'll go back with you to make sure there are no troubles." Sora said, looking to Riku for acknowledgement.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Riku said.

And with that, they all left for the castle, contempt that their work here was done.

Ansem's Castle – Midnight

After Cid had replaced the data, everyone had gone to sleep. Everyone except Sora and Sophie. Now that Zangyre was gone, they couldn't sleep at night anymore, as his 'spell' had dispersed.

Sophie had gone out to do something (she said it was none of Sora's business), but Sora was just exploring the wilderness at night time. He eventually stopped and sat down at a cliff top near the dark depths. From where he was sitting, he could see the castle Maleficent used to hide in and plan her schemes until she disappeared in The World that Never Was.

'I don't know why, but I just feel like exploring for once. Seeing as how I have a near limitless amount of stamina, I kinda see why Riku wanted to escape from the islands, because he wanted more space to move around.'

"Having fun, Sora?"

Sora turned around and saw Frank standing behind him, smiling.

"Didn't expect you to come here." Sora said, before looking forward again.

"Well, I thought I should tell you more about that new Keyblade you utilized against Zangyre today." Frank told him.

Sora didn't know what to be more shocked about. The fact that Frank knew he had a new keyblade, or that he knew the identity of Zangyre.

"How did you know about-" Sora was but off by Frank.

"The Keyblade? The name of that man you fought in the sewers? Which one would you prefer to know about?" Sora shot a glare at Frank. He was playing games with him. Again.

"Oh come on, Frank, not now." Sora turned back around, agitated.

"Okay, okay, I give. I can sense when someone has grown in strength, even if it's in more ways than one. And I can sense you've grown in more ways than one. Not just the Keyblade that has bolstered your ability, has it?"

Sora knew he was referring to blood. He thought back to his 'little accident', if you could call it an accident. He practically butchered 3 vampires.

"Anyway, call out your Keyblade." Frank requested.

Sora extended his hand forward, and summoned the Keyblade to his hand.

The difference was obvious (I am comparing it to the Kingdom key). The handle of the Keyblade was mainly black in colour, but several dark gradients of red were visible on the handle and chain point. Further along the blade was still black, but 4 laces of gold twisted around the blade up to the bottom of the key part of the weapon, where 2 crimson red hearts laying on each other (seemingly forming a rectangle). They also seemed to be dripping blood down the blade, the flow ending halfway down the blade (near the top, some of the 'blood' was on the gold laces). Finally, 3 thin black spikes stuck out of the hearts, completing the Keyblade.

"The Keyblade has changed. It always reflects what the user feels in his heart. Because you feel that your current 'state' may be dragging you into darkness, well… you can se what it shows."

"Not like you to call Vampirism a 'state', is it?" Sora said.

"Well, I assumed that was what Riku called it, because that kid has no idea what it's like. Only those who have experienced something can truly judge it." Frank said, sternly. Sora knew that Riku and Frank didn't exactly have a good friendship between each other, but normally Frank would treat it like a joke.

"And Zangyre? How did you know who he was?"

"I've known who Zangyre was for quite some time, it just didn't occur to me you'd encounter him so soon. But it seems the family takes you with high regard, as you can see. The Master of Shadows is what they call him, and he is indeed a brother of the family, and a high ranking one to boot. Next time you see him, if you think for even a second he is taking the battle seriously, run. Run like hell and do not stop until you are out of his sight. Don't stand in shadows either. It's not just a nickname; he has the most control over darkness out of everyone in the family except the father."

"Oh yeah? He wasn't so tough."

Without warning, Frank grabbed Sora by the collar and pulled him up, being careful not to expose Sora to the silver on his gauntlets.

"If you wanna treat this like a game, then I will have nothing to do with you when you throw yourself in to an early grave. When I speak about the family I am always serious. Don't forget that. So I suggest it would be best to follow my advice, or go get yourself killed, much like your 'best friend' will end up doing if he's not careful. Got it?" Sora had never seen Frank so angry since he wet snooping around his stuff on Destiny Islands. He also noticed that Frank was putting a lot of pressure on Sora's windpipe. Guess having a half-dead body had its advantages. Frank dropped Sora to the ground.

"Sorry… I was being big-headed and just joking about. I'm used to people just mocking me for that, not grabbing me by the collar and scaring the life out of me." Sora said.

"You cannot ever for a minute treat this unserious, Sora, or it'll be a one-way ticket to hell. You don't wanna die when you're a vampire. We are condemned to hell for being bloodsuckers, and our deeds will tell whether we deserve forgiveness for falling victim to a vampires bite."

They looked at each other for a moment, till they heard Riku shouting.

"Sora? You out here?" Riku shouted, in the distance.

"Time for me to go. It'd be best that unless someone else sees me with you, we keep our talks private. Under stand?"

Sora just nodded. Frank turned around and walked away. Just as he disappeared, Riku found Sora.

"Oh, there you are! What are you doing all the way out here? I woke up and Sophie said she didn't know where you were, so I got worried."

"Well, don't worry about it." Sora said.

"I do worry though. Anyways, Cid said he wanted to see us, so come on."

And with that, Sora and Riku started their long trek back to the castle, but eventually, Sora picked up Riku and began to use his super speed to run them back to the castle.

"How the hell can you carry me and run so fast?"

"Do you need to ask?" He was of course referring to his vampiric strength and agility. They ran off toward the castle, with Riku smiling. 'This is pretty cool' he thought to himself.

**End Chapter**


	17. Chapter 16: Enigma

**Authors Note:** I have had many complaints about my speed of writing for this fanfic. Well, college is almost over, just one week to go (as of 18/06/07) until I am free. In the meantime, here is a chapter hot off the blocks just for you guys. Reason I'm doing this is because I have ideas running through my head for the story at the moment, and I'm not gonna let myself forget them.

**Chapter 16: ****Enigma**

Hollow Bastion – 1:00am

"Well, we'd better be off now while it's still dark. Don't wanna be late and get there in the morning." Sora told Cloud.

"Yeah, no problem. I'll tell Cid that you left when he wakes up." Cloud answered.

Sora, Riku and Sophie got ready, until Cloud approached Sora.

"On second thought, how about I come with you?" Cloud said to him.

"Not like you to offer help to people." Sora mocked. That earned him a slap to the back of the head.

"Hey, I'm trying to help. Do you want my help or not?" Cloud said, visibly annoyed at Sora's reaction, but expecting it nonetheless.

"Yes, but why do you offer us help? Usually you stay by yourself and don't want others to get involved."

"But even if that is so, Sephiroth clearly wants something to do with you, and if he's following you, I want to be waiting for him at the end of his trail."

"Double agenda, is it?" By that Sora meant he was looking to help Sora, but he was mainly in this to get Sephiroth and most likely kill him, perhaps once and for all.

"None of your business." And with that, Cloud walked off to his own room to get packed (By the way, in this fanfic Cloud is wearing his clothes from Kingdom Hearts 1, just to let you know, and his bat wing is visible), if he needed to pack. By the looks of things, he was just grabbing his Buster Sword and a picture… wait, a picture?

"So, what was that about?" Riku said as he stood there in Sora's doorway.

"Cloud is coming with us. His choice." Sora stated bluntly while he looked out the window at the full moon.

"Hey, you okay? You seem distant… far off."

"Just thinking about Sephiroth and what he could possibly want with me."

"What made you think that? Something Cloud said?" Riku looked like he would get annoyed if the answer to the last question was 'yes'.

"Sephiroth has always been interested in Keyblade Wielders, no less me, the Keyblade Master. He once said before I battled him…

"_I see… so that's a Keyblade. And I suppose you, Sora, must be __its chosen Master."_

"_I wonder if it won't change its mind, and seek a more powerful Keyblade Wielder, once I kill you and take it from you." _

_(Yes, I know I changed the lines he said in KHII, but I did it for effect! Forgive me!)_

…I managed to fend him off, but I never actually beat him. He was just way too powerful. He was going easy on me; I guess he was relying on the chance we'd meet again."

Sora summoned his Keyblade, and looked at it carefully. Riku was surprised to see Sora wielding it again.

"I see you got it back. Nice design, although a bit… crude, for my liking."

"Our Keyblade put the feelings of our hearts into form. The key to our hearts…"

"That's not something I've heard of before, but it makes sense. Where'd you get that?"

"Err… I've always known that. I thought you would too." Sora had to improvise there, remembering what Frank said, to keep their 'meetings' secret.

"Yeah, ok, whatever you say…" Riku was looking at Sora suspiciously, but soon dismissed it as chance that Sora knew something he didn't. 'Guess I must have missed that one…'

"Well, Cloud and I are ready, so if you guys are ready, then let's get going while the suns down!" Sophie announced out loud. Why she didn't just come to their rooms and tell them they didn't know.

"Time to go." Riku said.

"Cid will probably be pissed off about being left alone. But he'll get over it." Sora replied with a hint of sarcasm in the last sentence. Riku didn't get it, not knowing what Cid's temper was like.

Within minutes, the Gummi Ship was up and running with 4 passengers on board. They set off, not knowing that Cid had been woken up by the engines.

"Ya damn kids! Got no respect for your elders!" Cid shouted, furious at being woken up at 1 'o' clock. "Take care of yourselves, damn it." Cid said, with a smile at the end of his sentence before going back inside and closing the door.

"Alright, it seems we can now access more worlds now." Riku said, at the controls. He found it was pretty easy to control, and had gotten the hang of it by the time they left the atmosphere of Hollow Bastion.

"Oh yeah, I just remembered that Hollow Bastion is actually called Radiant Garden!" Sora said as if it was something great or important, but this caused the whole party to moan, and Riku to bang his head once on the dashboard. Sophie attempted to slap Sora round the back of his head, but Sora saw it coming and grabbed her hand.

"Hey, only Riku gets to do that, and I don't even like him doing that." He threw her hand back to her, and she smiled.

"I might just have to take that right from him, then." Sophie smirked.

'Why did I come along for the ride again?' Cloud thought, clearly irritated with them acting like children.

"Anyways, the worlds we can go to are as follows; Land Of the Dragons, Beast's Castle, and Olympus Coliseum, although it's the Underworld, not the stadium that's accessible." Riku announced. 'Hey, that was the starting line-up for my last journey…' Sora noticed.

"So it's Beast's Castle, or the underworld…"

"Why not Land Of the Dragons?" Sophie asked.

"Because it's nearly always daytime over there, and it's freezing at winter." Sora complained.

"Right then, which one will it be?" Riku asked.

"Beast's Castle. Easy one to start with."

"Alright, then. Beast's Castle it is."

Beast's Castle – 4:00am

A figure dressed in nothing but black stepped into the ballroom through the window. The lights were out, and no-one was here. He slowly sneaked across the upstairs segment of the ballroom, taking care not to show himself in the candlelight that appeared every 10 seconds. Knowing what kind of magic was in this world, he did not dare show himself, when the objects of the house tended to be 'animated', meaning getting spotted meant trouble, and while this person could easily deal with anything that threw itself at him, he needed to avoid revealing his presence. At least until the Keyblade master and his friends arrived…

He took position at an outcropping in the ceiling of the ballroom, where no-one, even with the lights on could see him, and waited. He would wait for the opportune moment…

**End Chapter**


	18. Chapter 17: Nocturnal

**Authors Note:** Apologies for the lateness of this chapter, but at last my college work is all done! I'm free! (Until September that is…)

Believe it or not, I already have most of the main parts for this story in my head. I even have an idea of what I will write about- whoa, I'm talking too much here, can't reveal anything.

**Chapter 17: Nocturnal**

Beast's Castle – 4:30am

The Gummi Ship slowed down until it reached a stop. Within seconds, Sora and his company (consisting of Riku and Cloud for the moment) had set foot on the castle grounds. They looked around. It would soon be daytime, Sora needed to get inside.

"Come on, I gotta secure a good room." Sora didn't leave any opening and ran towards the castle, Riku shortly following after.

"Hey, wait up!" Riku shouted. Cloud shrugged and walked in their direction, taking his time. There was no rush. As he looked around however, he saw something that caught his attention. He looked up toward it, but it had disappeared. What had he seen?

"Cloud! Come on! Pick up the pace!" Sora shouted at Cloud. He sighed, and continued to walk. "God, he's such a slowpoke…"

"Tell me why we brought him with us again?" Riku questioned.

"Because the more men we have the better. We can't go barging into the Family HQ on our own. Even prepared, it would be suicide."

"Yeah, but what if they're all wimps?"

"You and your one-track brain…"Sora complained.

"My, it appears we have visitors!" The crew turned toward the voice and saw Belle standing there in the doorway of the castle. Of course, Riku and Cloud had no idea who she was, but if Sora knew her it was cool. Knowing him anyway, he'd probably introduce them to each other.

"Belle! Good to see ya!" Sora exclaimed.

'Does he get this excited every time he meets a person he knows?' Cloud questioned in his own thoughts.

"Good to see you too, Sora. And who are your two friends?"

"This is Riku, and this is Cloud." Riku and Cloud both waved to signal a 'hi'. Just as they were doing this, thunder sounded in the distance.

"Oh my! We better get inside before it rains. Come on."

They al ran inside (even Cloud, which was a relief) and Belle shut the doors.

"So, uh… where's Beast?" Sora asked.

"I'm here." They turned to the staircase to see Beast coming down the stairs, looking towards them.

"Hey, Beast! Had any problems lately?" Sora asked.

"Not really. Just me and Belle on our own as usual. Why are you here anyway?"

"Oh, you know… making worlds safe again, all that stuff."

Beast was giving Sora a curious look. Sora didn't notice because he wasn't looking, but Riku and Cloud noticed it. They were guessing that if this sort of mythology was real in this world, then Beast already knew Sora was a vampire.

"Actually, Sora… I wanted to talk to you about something. Private. Follow me."

Without waiting for a response, Beast walked to the wall of the staircase and pressed a button. A door opened and Beast signalled for Sora to follow. The corridor quickly became a large amount of stairs that led some way down. He guessed by now that they were underground. They finally reached a solid wall, but Beast gave it a push, and it opened into a bedroom. The room had no light at all until Sora took out his Keyblade and lit a nearby candle. He saw a few more and continued to light them all until all had been lit, and the room had it's light, albeit an eerie, orange light that flickered every so often and made you think that they would all go out at once, as if an invisible wind would blow them out.

"I have known many creatures of many myths and can tell when one is hiding its true self, Sora." Beast said. What he said sounded like a riddle.

"So, what does that mean?"

"I know what you are, Sora. And you are not human."

Sora gulped. How could he tell? Was he really that easy to see through? (Could Sora not even think for one second, and realise the crimson red eyes were a dead giveaway?)

"Are you gonna kick me out?" The one thing Sora now feared much like Riku did: Rejection.

"No, I will let you and your friends sleep in this room. As you can see, there are enough beds for everyone, so no worries."

Sora felt more relaxed. That was good.

"But if you attack Belle, or try to feed on her, I will kill you." Beast said with a very serious tone, a hint of anger in his voice also.

Sora felt nervous. He had a hard time controlling his feeding habits when he had recently fed, but he was getting a craving, telling him he would need blood soon.

Unfortunately, that would have to wait a few hours.

8:00am

Cloud and Riku had settled down into Sora's room and had all gotten a nice bit of sleep. Sora of course was still sleeping and Riku was sleeping in, but Cloud had gone outside to train.

Ever since he had been to Olympus Coliseum he had taken to fighting. And when he couldn't fight, he would train. It vented any frustration out he had, the frustration he had about Him…

Belle was watching from the outside, thinking why Cloud had to train so much. She didn't question him though, but she was still curious.

Meanwhile, Riku was getting up, not knowing what time it was (No electronics in a house can be hard), but as he turned to look at Sora, he saw something a bit weird.

Sora was there, and he was perfectly fine, but Riku felt it was eerie the way he was sleeping. His entire body was straight, facing up, and his arms were laid across his chest, resembling a cross. Riku shook it off and went upstairs, not forgetting to shut the door behind him.

Back in the main hall, Riku was just leaving their room. But he didn't realise he was being watched by someone. As the secret door shut behind Riku, he felt like a rush of hot wind passed by him. He looked around, even looking in the secret stairway, but saw no-one. Not a thing.

'Great, now I'm getting paranoid. Just what I need…'

The intruder had already reached the end of the basement hallway and opened the door. There on the bed lay a sleeping Sora. The intruder crept across the room to the opposite end of the room, and slowly slid behind the closet.

"Stupid Zangyre, he's the one who's an expert in hiding and all, I'm the complete opposite!" the intruder whispered to himself.

He noticed a strong smell in the air. It smelled like blood, but it was like an intoxicating aroma. He found the source in none other than… Sora.

'Oh shit, the smell… I gotta get control… but, the blood…' Without thinking, he wandered up to Sora and stared down on him. To anyone who didn't know vampires existed, Sora would seem dead to them. Completely still, cold body, no breathing, no pulse. He looked dead.

He was lowering himself to Sora's neck, baring his fangs, until he caught his senses and realised what he had nearly done.

'Whoa, calm down, man. You're not supposed to do that. You're NOT supposed to do that. Just back away and hide in the corner, wait for him to leave the room. God, why did boss say to hide in the kid's room? It only has one exit and no windows. I could've hid outside in the main hallway where I was hiding in the first place, but no…'

_Sora's Dream_

_He opened his eyes to see a room. The room looked like a hallway in an antique house. The wallpaper was peeling off, the floorboards creaked. Sora ran forward through this hallway, not really able to see much further ahead of him by a few feet. Everything appeared so hazy, and it seemed it was getting hazier as he went further along. As he went far into the hallway, he began to notice the odd splatter of blood on the wall. As he went further, the amount of blood increased, and his senses were on fire. He wanted to scream and bang his head to stop it, but he couldn't. He just kept running. Finally, he reached a door, but everything around it was blood, making it look like the walls were dripping. He grabbed the door handle and swung the door open without a second thought, closing the door behind him._

_He looked at his new surroundings. It looked like the hallway, only it was a proper (albeit empty) room and it looked just fine. No pee__ling paint or anything. But he saw next shocked him._

_Standing in the corner, looking at him, was Riku. Just standing there. But he looked worried._

"_Sora? What's wrong?" Riku asked him. He tried to respond with 'I don't know' but nothing came from his mouth. Hell, it didn't even move. He turned around and noticed the door was gone. He was locked in this room with Riku. And then he heard this constant thumping. Thump-Thump. He looked around for the source. Thump-Thump. His head was hurting now. Thump-Thump. And just like that, he knew where it was coming from as he stared at the source in horror._

_Riku. Thump-Thump. He could hear his beating heart! THUMP-Thump. The beats were louder now. He scrambled around for an exit, but nothing. THUMP-Thump. He didn't realise that Riku had nearly closed the distance between the two._

"_Sora what's going on, are you ok? __Please tell me!" Riku shouted as he laid a hand on Sora's shoulder._

_THUMP-THUMP. THUMP-THUMP._

_Without thinking, he pounced on Riku, and without hesitation went for his neck. "Sora! What's gotten into-" __He was cut off as Sora bit down on his neck. "You?"_

_Sora sucked Riku's blood out the puncture wounds like there was no tomorrow. The thumping was increasing, but Sora could 'feel' it being drowned out by his activities. The noise was dying out and that's all he cared about._

"_What…" Riku said weakly as Sora was reaching the end of his blood supply. "Are…" He had only a little bit left. He uttered two last words before going limp, his eyes going completely grey. "You… Sora…" Sora pulled away and felt so good. He felt stronger, more powerful… and that horrible beating noise had stopped too. He looked down to see how he stopped it. His body froze._

_Riku… he had killed Riku. And he was staring at him. But how could a dead body still look at things? Sora got up and tried to move out of its eyesight range, but he could still see those eyes, looking directly at him. He turned around, not wanting to look at him. But what he saw next he wasn't expecting._

_The wall he had turned to face had turned into a mirror. And what he saw scared him to his core. He saw himself, but… he was covered in blood. But that wasn't the most disturbing thing. His face looked distorted. It looked beast-like. A shifting noise went unheard past Sora's ears, as he stood there, paralyzed by this horrendous image. But the mirror only brought him more horror, as in the corner, he saw someone or something getting up. It looked like Riku, but something was off, and not just the dried blood stream that went from the figure's neck, down the front of his shirt, further down to his trousers where evaporation had caught on and stopped it there. Sora closed his eyes, wanting this to all stop. He felt something tap him on the shoulder. He opened his eyes. The mirror was just showing him, without the screwed up face, but still with the blood._

_He turned around, expecting to see a perfectly fine Riku and realise it was all a dream._

_But instead, he got something much worse than a reminder it was all happening. It was a deformed version of Riku. His skin looked all grey in some places, others it was green and red, some parts even looked ready to fall off. His eyes were the freakiest thing, simply because they weren't there. Just replaced by hollow eyelids._

_Sora screamed louder that he ever had in his entire life, until Deformed Riku put a hand to his mouth, and said the words:_

"_You… Killed…Me…" He said in a strained, moaning voice. Before Sora could react, this creature plunged its hand into Sora's chest and wrapped a hand around his heart. Sora screamed in agony (because D-Riku had moved his hand), and only screamed louder for a split second before going silent when he pulled the heart out. He could see it, still attached to some tendons, but another yank completely disconnected it from Sora's body. Sora had gone silent, just shaking and looking forward in shock, making choking sounds as blood poured down his chest, and out his mouth._

"_Don't… Need… This…" he said, referring to the heart. He dropped it on the floor beside him, just as Sora dropped to the ground. D-Riku knelt sown in front of Sora and put a hand over Sora's wound. He was dead already. To make one final statement, he plunged his clawed hand at Sora's head…_

6:52pm (After Sundown)

"NO!" Sora screamed as he woke up. It was a dream. More like a nightmare. No-one was in his room. And he wasn't in a hallway or any room other that the room he was staying in at Beast's Castle. He quickly pulled himself up into a ball and began to cry. Why did he have that dream? He always thought 'your dreams are prophetic' but this was just a really bad nightmare!

The door to the room opened, and in came Riku, with dinner.

"Hey, Sora, you're awake, I brought you some- Sora?" He noticed that he was crying. He put down the food and ran up to Sora.

"I… had a… bad dream…" Sora said with a very shaky voice. He was trembling like mad, Riku's hold not calming him down.

"Sora… it's just a dream… how bad could it be?"

"It seemed… so real… and as for… how bad it… could be… you don't… wanna know."

Sora got up, pushing Riku aside.

"I need time to think." Sora said. Without looking back, he ran up the stairs. As he did this, Riku felt another hot wind pass by him in Sora's direction.

'Where are these hot winds coming from? Are they a coincidence? And why are they really hot?' Riku thought.

Outside, 6:55pm

Sora sat outside, hoping that he would never harm his friends. That he would kill one of his friends. He prayed to some benevolent force that it would never happen.

"I'm becoming a liability to everyone around me." Sora sighed.

"You're right on the money there, kid." Someone immediately grabbed Sora and held his arms with one hand. He held the other out in front of Sora as he continued to struggle.

"Ah, ah, ah." His hand suddenly burst into flames. Sora knew what he was threatening him with, and he knew who it would be.

"One of the Family?" Sora asked.

"You're a good guesser. My name is Nash. And you're all mine now."

**End Chapter**

**Authors Note: **Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	19. Chapter 18: Battle in the Castle

**Au****thors Note:** At long last, my summer has truly begun, and by that, I mean all college work is finished!

**Chapter 18****: Battle at the Castle**

Sophie was waiting in the Gummi Ship, thinking that it sucked being left in the Gummi.

'God, just because Beast doesn't like vampire doesn't mean he only had to let one in! This Gummi Ship has no beds, and the chairs hurt like hell!'

Her thinking was interrupted as she felt a wind pick up. Knowing that the Gummi was closed except for the vent shafts, she stood up and looked around. She was suddenly grabbed and picked up by an invisible force.

"Hey! Let me go!" she shouted, but the door opened, and she was taken away.

Meanwhile, Nash was still holding Sora hostage, threatening him with fire if he continued to struggle. As if on cue, Sophie appeared in front of them, and after she stopped moving, a man appeared holding her hostage too.

Getting a good look, Sophie could see what Nash looked like. His orange hair was spiked upwards, with the tips a nice crimson red. The colours seemed to flow into each other. Judging by his face, he was quite mid-aged looking.

Sora could see that the other guy was much younger; he looked like a teenager, nearly as tall as Sophie was. He had similar hair to Nash, but it was mainly red rather than the fiery orange Nash had. It also was discoloured at the tips, like Nash's hair, but instead of red, it was black. His hair was shorter than Nash's also, and looked like the wind had permanently dragged it in a backwards direction. He was definitely shorter too, as Sophie wasn't near as tall as Nash was. He looked only a slight bit taller than Sora.

"Razor! What took you so long?" Nash shouted at his partner, angry obviously at his partner for some sort of absence.

"Hey, I wanted to take my time, admire this… beautiful lady…" Razor said in a slow, almost nice voice. But all it did was revolt Sophie.

"What? You jerk!" Sophie said, as she started to struggle against Razor again. But his grip was iron, and Sophie couldn't break through.

"Razor, do you need to be warned about the dangers of doing undignified acts like that?"

"Nope, cause it doesn't make much of a difference to me."

"Yeah, well, for all you know, backup for these fools may very well b on their way while you're 'checking out' that young lady!"

"Not far off, you creep!" Riku shouted, and from out of nowhere, he and Cloud sprung on the two assailants and attempted to break their hold on Sora and Sophie. Although at first they didn't affect them much, this gave Sophie and Sora the chance to fight back and get free.

"You see, Razor? You see what happens?" Nash shouted.

"Damn, you two argue endlessly, no wonder it was so easy for me and Sophie to get away from you two." Sora said, with a smile on his face.

"Oh, you haven't gotten away. Don't think just because you outnumber us, that you can get us. 4-on-2 is nothing."

As they said that, Beast walked on to the scene.

"Okay, 5-on-2 then. Let's take this to a more open ground. See you on the bridge."

And with that, they disappeared, the hot wind a sign of their travel. (By the way, Razor and Nash need each other to do that fast travel thing)

"Let's get to the bridge!" Sora ordered, and without hesitation, they moved in the direction of the bridge.

As expected, Nash and Razor were waiting for them at the bridge. This reminded Sora of his battle with Xaldin. Only this time, it was a dual affair. And instead of 3-on-1, it was 5-on-2.

"Well, you showed up. And I see you brought the 'damsel' with you…" Razor said, drawing irritation from Nash and Sophie. Sophie was more annoyed though.

"Jerk." She muttered.

"Oh, did I hurt you?"

"Enough! Razor, this is neither the time nor the place. Stop screwing around and get ready to fight." Nash said, as his arms slowly built up the fire and spread it around his body like a spiral.

Razor also got ready. He built up a big gust of wind that almost blew Sora and his companions back, until the wind became visible. He used it to shield himself, making it look like someone had cast Aeroga on him.

Sora and the party readied their respective weapons, although Beast just got ready to fight.

Sophie, on the other hand, put her right hand on her hip, as if reaching for something.

Just as Nash pulled his hands back, readying himself to fire at them…

_Earlier_

_Sophie was sitting in the Gummi Ship quite a while after the others had left and entered the castle. Sophie was standing, waiting for someone._

"_You seem to always know when I'll come to see you." A voice said._

_She turned to see Frank standing behind her._

"_Do you have them?" Sophie asked._

"_Yes I do. Here." He passed her a black briefcase. She opened it to reveal 4 guns._

"_These are for Sora." He pointed to 2 golden made pistols (Think of the pistols Alucard uses.) "They have been remade to fire silver bullets. I had them remade into gold so he could handle them, because the silver he uses to make these things will burn through clothing, even the gauntlets."_

"_And that is for Riku." He pointed to a silver Desert Eagle-like gun. "Similar to Sora's guns, only it has more kick to compromise for Sora having 2 and Riku only having 1. And that one…"_

_He pulled out a silver Magnum gun with a laser attachment. The handle was covered in a firm wooden hold to protect the user from the silver._

"_Is for you."_

Sophie pulled out her gun and fired directly at Nash.

"Crap!" Was all Nash could say as he barely dodged the gunshot. "Razor, why does she have a gun? You said she was clean!"

"I thought she was!" He shouted back at him as Sophie fired a shot at Razor's head, only for it to be stopped in midair by his wind shield. She was relentless, and continued firing at him, until she had used all eight (A Magnum carries 8 shots, folks) of her shots.

"Not a smart move, lady." Razor said as the bullets, all still hanging in mid-air, turned to aim at her.

"Uh oh…" she said as they came at her at light speed. Luckily, Cloud came up front and deflected the bullets with his sword.

"Don't forget about us!" Sora shouted, as the gang grouped up around Sophie.

"Oh, we wouldn't forget about any of you…" Nash and Razor said together, mockingly. Suddenly, the wind picked up and the two were out of sight.

The air began to get increasingly hot around them.

"Jeeze, it's damn hot here…" Riku said. Just as he said that, he was cut off by a sudden rush of wind pushing him off his feet.

"Ow! Damn, felt like I got hit by a damn fireball!" Riku said. And when he looked at his coat, he saw burn marks on them, all going in one swift direction.

As Sora was examining the damage, he too was caught by a swift wind, but this time, Riku saw the fire hit him. They were trying to do more damage to Sora. Maybe it was because he had their regenerative abilities.

Sora swung his Keyblade in the direction the blast came from, but although it felt like it connected, nothing happened, and he was launched off the ground again.

The enemies reappeared in front of the four.

"This is pathetic! No point in using that attack, might as well just attack you up close and personal!" Nash claimed. Everyone readied up again, as Nash and Razor came rushing towards them.

Cloud was the first to attack, using his Sonic Blade attack. Not knowing Clouds abilities, Nash was barely able to get out of the way, but Razor wasn't so lucky.

Nash readied an attack to get Cloud while he was vulnerable. He combined the fire in both hands to form a swirling fireball.

"Take this!" Nash shouted as he threw the thing at Cloud. Cloud noticed it too late, and he was blown back face first onto the ground, dropping his sword in the process.

Sora bit back with a Blizzaga attack. "Deep Freeze!" Nash dodged the attack though and taking the opportunity, rushed up to Sora and gave him a surprise. He pulled out a sword and slashed at Sora's gut. Sora fell immediately, coughing up blood.

"Sora!" Sophie and Riku shouted in unison, running up to Sora, Sophie shooing Nash away with gunfire.

"Sora, just hang in there, I'll get a healing spell ready-" Sora stopped him before he said another word.

"I can… regenerate from this… Just need time…" Sora's sentence was split due to a heavy loss of blood.

"Alright, we'll give you that time!" Riku said as he got into his battle stance.

'_Frank was wrong… I have ended up protecting Sora, and those regenerative abilities he talked about aren't looking to be very good at the moment…' _Riku thought mentally.

Razor came at Riku, taunting him.

"Oh dear, looks like the strong one is already finished! How can you hope to even touch me? You look pathetic Riku!" Razor shouted, floating in the air with visible currents beneath his feet, keeping him afloat. After smirking at Riku, he rushed forward with lightning speed, ready to strike.

'_Damn, I can't hit him! Gotta keep movin!'_ Riku thought. With barely any distance between him and Razor, he rolled out of the way, and Razor barely missed. Again and again, Razor came at Riku, and he would barely be able to dodge.

"Come on, Riku! Fight me like a man!" Razor shouted.

So far, it was not in the favour of our heroes. Sora was incapacitated, Riku was unable to attack, and Sophie and Cloud were now occupied with keeping Nash at bay, albeit unsuccessfully.

'_Why… am I not regenerating? Did Frank… lie to me? So much… blood…'_ Sora thought as he felt his strength die down…

'_**Use it…'**_

'_What? Who's that?'_

'_**The darkness… use it… Now!'**_

Sora's eyes began to roll back in his head in pain, as darkness began to flow from the wound in his stomach. He felt his consciousness be pushed away as something else took over.

His body began to overload with darkness. Bandages wrapped themselves around his arms and lower face. His hands extended and became razor-sharp claws. Black inky tendrils like gas leaks flowed all around his body as he slowly stood up. By now the battle had stopped, everyone watching this event unfold. Slowly, Sora began to haul himself up, and the only sign of his face was those glowing yellow lights that used to be his eyes.

"S… Sora?!" Riku stuttered, he couldn't believe what he was witnessing. Sora looked like a Heartless. But suddenly, it clicked in his head what was happening. Sora had entered Anti-Form. He hadn't seen it in action before, but the sight of it chilled him to his core. He was even more afraid of Sora now than usual.

Suddenly, Sora rushed forward, towards Nash. He rushed so fast, Nash didn't see him coming. To him, one second he was there, next he was behind him, and next he was tearing Nash apart.

"M_u_S_t_… D_e_S_t_R_o_Y… _y_O_u_…" Sora said, it sounded like two voices at once, though similar, very different. Claws ripped apart his clothing and skin, until Razor interfered.

"Hey, you freak! Leave my father alone!" The rest of the party were too distracted to realize Razor had just called Nash 'father'.

Sora turned as soon as he heard Razor shout at him. Without hesitation, Sora launched himself at Razor, using Nash as a launch pad, sending Nash to the ground below him. He wasn't dead, but he sure was injured.

Razor upped the intensity of his wind shield, but it proved futile as Sora went right through it, claws first towards Razor. He just managed to grab Sora and chuck him to one side, preventing him from doing little more than a big scratch mark in his face. Sora quickly regained his balance, and again went at Razor. This time he struck even more fiercely, landing several hits on him before finally kicking him to where his father was, rather harshly.

Nash and Razor quickly got up. They realized it was not the time to fight Sora as he was now.

"You've won this round, ya little brat, but we'll see you again!" And with that, Nash and Razor combined their abilities and left as fast as they could without letting Sora on to their trail, a hot wind a sign of their passage.

"Sora?" Riku asked him. No answer. He got closer to Sora, feeling safer now…

"Sora?" Riku whispered into his ear.

A second later, Riku was on the ground, underneath Sora. Sora had him by the neck, gripping it tightly and almost choking him, while his other hand seemed prepped to rip apart Riku.

"Sora, you don't wanna do this! It's me, Riku! I'm your friend! Please!" Riku shouted.

Sora's grip loosened. This confused Riku, until he looked up and saw Sora wavering. Slowly the darkness left him as he fell out of consciousness.

"Sora!" Everyone shouted in unison as they ran to him and Riku's position.

Riku checked Sora for injuries. None. Wait, none? He checked, but the wound from earlier was gone. Only the blood pool a few feet away was a sign that it was real and had happened.

"We better get inside the ship." They all ran to the ship, Riku carrying Sora in his arms.

The Gummi Ship

Sora began to wake. He looked at his surroundings, and saw he was back in the gummi Ship. He also saw his friends were sitting with him.

"Hey, he's getting up." Sophie said. He got up slowly, to ease any pain, but he found none. He sat upright.

"You can stop all staring at me now…"Sora said. "I'm fine."

"That's a relief. I checked your pulse and-" Riku stopped himself there, realising the mistake he'd made.

"Remembered it would be useless. Riku, I'm dead, remember? Don't have a pulse? Geeze how many more times…"

"As many as it takes." Riku said. Sora smirked at his remark.

"Anyway, you were out for a while. Sophie went out to check the perimeter. When she comes back, we're leaving, okay?"

"Yeah, sure, no problem."

"Yeah, no problem." Sora said. And then, as if on cue…

"Area's clear. Are we ready to go?" Sophie said, re-entering the Gummi.

"Yep, we're ready." Sora said, indicating to her he was awake.

"Well then, it was good to see you again, Sora. But hopefully you won't have to make a double visit here." Belle said, standing by Beast.

"Don't worry. Hopefully if we do come back, it'll just be to say hello." Sora said. Belle smiled to acknowledge his gesture.

"Well, see you two some other time!" Sora said. They waved and stood back as the Gummi door closed, and the ship took flight.

The crew wasn't all happy at the moment. What had they witnessed in Sora? Was it the embodiment of his darkness? And was it the last they had seen of Nash and Razor?

**End Chapter**

**Authors Note:** At last, I have finished this chapter. Boy, fight scenes take ages! Anyway, there was supposed to be more in this chapter (rather, more at the end) about those guns Frank wants Sophie to give Sora and Riku. I'll do that in a separate chapter, right now I need my beauty sleep, and I'm tired as hell.


	20. Chapter 19: Extra Protection

**Chapter 19****: Extra Protection**

Everyone was taking their time to relax in the Gummi as it made a rather slow course toward Land Of The Dragons. Cloud was sleeping in his chair, while Sophie, Riku and Sora were having a talk.

She brought out a large case from under her own chair, and proceeded to open it. She swivelled it around, to show Sora and Riku the guns that Frank had given her.

"What the hell do WE need guns for…" Riku said, questioningly.

"For a just in case scenario. They'll help. Until you get a keyblade that has silver on it, you'll need these. You know that even if you had incapacitated those two that we just fought, to kill them we need silver or for Sora to drink all their blood?" Sophie said.

"Yeah, yeah, we know, Frank told us…" Riku replied in an annoyed tone.

"Then hush and listen." Sophie pulled two golden pistols by the ends, and handed them to Sora. He took them in hand, and looked at them suspiciously.

"Take your gloves off, both of you." Sophie instructed the both of them. They proceeded as instructed, Sora taking extra care not to make contact with the silver.

She then pulled out another gun, this one thicker and made of silver. She handed it to Riku.

"Both guns can fire most bullet types, the most important ones obviously being silver bullets. However, those kind of bullets are very expensive to make, so I'll be supplying you with some of both."

"How are normal bullets gonna help us?" Sora asked.

"Normal bullets won't kill them, but they'll hurt them. Just cause only silver bullets can kill them doesn't mean other things won't hurt them."

"I guess. But I bet I'll rarely use this anyway." Riku said, examining the gun.

Sora holstered hid guns in the pockets he had gotten from Frank on Destiny Islands, and strapped them around his waist.

"Can I have a look at yours, Riku?" Sora asked, but just as he was about to lay a hand on Riku's gun, Sophie grabbed his wrist and yanked him back.

"Hey, what gives?" Sora complained.

Surprisingly, Riku admonished Sora. "It's made of silver, you doofus! Don't touch it with your bare hands!" Riku shouted. Sora felt stupid for not thinking.

"Sorry, wasn't thinking." Sora replied, smiling stupidly.

"That excuse is running old, Sora, soon I'm just gonna get madder when you say that." Riku responded.

"Look, enough, when we touch down, you're gonna want to check your aim with those things. They're pretty powerful, and if you're not used to them, then you'll never hit anything with them. Especially you, Riku, as your one packs a slight bit more of a kickback." Sophie told them.

"Wait a minute. I just figured something out." Sora said.

"What is it?" Riku said, sounding worried.

"If you, me and Sophie are here, and Cloud is asleep, who's flying the Gummi Ship?"

A loud slap sounded throughout the ship. Cloud stirred, but didn't wake up.

"It's on autopilot, you imbecile!" Riku said, getting irritated at Sora's stupidity.

"_Engaging warp drive, please be careful and fasten seatbelts"_

"I can't believe I'm flying 10,000 miles or whatever for this sh-" Sophie was cut off by the warp engine activating, letting out a roar as it sped up toward their destination…

Land Of The Dragons.

**End Chapter**

**Authors Note:** Another quickie, but as usual expect a longer chapter later in the week.


	21. Chapter 20: Land of the Dragons

**Chapter 20: Land of the Dragons**

Land of the Dragons: 7:25am

Sora and company were coming near their landing spot for the next world.

However, they had hit a problem. It was bight as day at the moment, and that meant Sora and Sophie would be confined until night time.

Um… guys? We got a problem…" Riku said, at the controls.

"What is it?" Sora asked him in return. Sora was looking sleepy.

"It's 7 'o clock at Land of the Dragons." Riku replied, worry in his voice.

"Cool, night time already?" Sora said, obviously not realizing it was the exact opposite.

"No, in the morning." Riku said, with a serious tone.

"Oh, damn. OK, I and Sophie will go in the back until its night time then.

Come on Sophie." Sora said, with Sophie following him to the back where there were no holes or windows to the outside.

'Why does he take his situation so calmly? He'll never be able to see the outside world at a regular time ever again, as long as he is a vampire.

And he takes the situation so unserious? He gets me annoyed sometimes…' Riku thought, again having great concern about his friend.

"Come on Cloud, looks like we're on our own." Riku said, signaling to

Cloud to follow him.

Sora and Sophie went into the back room. It was a dusty room, showing that no-one had been in there for quite some time, and nothing was there but the 3 pipes running alongside the walls perpendicular to each other.

"This is the room we gotta sit in for 12 hours? I think I'd rather burn." Sophie complained.

"It's the only room that has no outside view or access. All the other rooms have windows, and they're pretty big. Sorry, but this has gotta be the room." Sora said in an apologetic way.

"We're coming into the atmosphere, so you're gonna wanna close that door!" Riku shouted down to them. Sora closed the door in response, and locked it on his side of it.

Meanwhile, Cloud and Sora stepped out into the open world, and upon setting foot on the ground, Cloud tripped and fell, not expecting to be stepping in snow (No side windows at the door, people so he wasn't clumsy, he just didn't look)

"It's wintertime in this world, so expect more snow as we move on.

Riku told Cloud as he helped him up.

They reached the village very quickly, but were not pleased at what they saw.

Parts of the village were destroyed, and it looked like no-one lived there anymore. Suddenly Riku saw a woman walking about in normal civilian robes but with a sword drawn, looking for something.

"Um, excuse me, are you Mu-" He was cut off by Mulan clamping her hand over his mouth, silencing him.

"Shh! You must be quiet! Someone is out there trying to kill us! You must get inside, quickly!" She whispered. With haste, Mulan pulled the two into a nearby tent and sat them down.

"Look, stay here and I'll take care of-" It was her turn to be cut off by Riku.

"Hold up! We're friends of Sora, he mentioned you! Are you Mulan?" She stopped and looked at them strangely, then smiled in relief.

"Sora? Sora is here? Where is he?" Mulan asked.

"He's unavailable right now, but we're good friends of him. We can fight too, if you've got a problem then let us help!" Riku said.

"Okay, if you're friends of Sora, then I trust you, but Shang won't be so trustworthy..." She trailed off, worried about what he would say if he found out she broke what was at the moment, law.

Flashback

"Mulan, you must promise me, no matter what, no matter who comes to this village, you will turn them away. No matter who they are, no matter where they came from you must turn them away. And we don't need outside help. If Sora turns up, then turn him away." Shang said to Mulan in the Emperor's

Hallway.

"Shang, this won't work. Turning away refugees is one thing, but turning away help-"

"I know, but the emperor has laid it out for us. We must obey our given orders."

They said nothing more, not even a goodbye as Mulan left for the Village...

End Flashback

"Mulan? It's Shang! We must talk!"

Mulan gasped. She realized that Riku and Cloud were in danger. She opened up the other side of the tent which was adjacent to the wall of the village.

"Quick! Climb over!" She ordered. Riku and Cloud quickly obeyed and scrambled over the wall. Luckily, it wasn't very tall, so they got over it with ease, and Shang hadn't reached her tent yet, so he wouldn't have seen them.

Shang came into the tent and greeted Mulan with a smile. But a smile didn't hide his true emotions well. Everyone was under stress from the way the emperor had been acting lately; Mulan and Shang weren't the only ones.

"Mulan." Shang greeted.

"Shang... what brings you to the Village?" Mulan asked, cutting to the point.

"Reassigned. For now. The general wants me to stay close to you so I can make sure you stay safe."

"And since when did I need protecting?" Mulan questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I wouldn't want you to get hurt." He drew her close, and hugged her.

"Listen, Mulan, I think the Emperor is not in the state of mind to rule

China right now. We need help. So... if Sora does perhaps show up then give him some hospitality, but keep it secret. The emperor won't be pleased if we disobey orders."

"Are you sure? Isn't this dangerous?"

"Not if we can get a quicker way of disposing of this problem we're having. Maybe if we dispose of these things that have been troubling us, then the Emperor may calm down and loosen the restrictions again."

They stepped out of their tent and gazed into the morning sun, covered by clouds white as the snow, threatening to drop more white hell onto them.

"Today is gonna be a long day..."

Meanwhile

Riku and Cloud had given up on waiting for Mulan to signal them back in or something, so they decided to head back to the ship. Without Sora, they were pretty useless on this world.

"Man, this place is different from what Sora described it as… Not much freedom, no happy people, and we can't even visit."

Riku paused, waiting for a reply from Cloud, but to no avail.

"Man of few words, aren't you?" Riku said.

"I prefer to only speak when it's necessary for me to speak." He muttered, just loud enough for Riku to hear it.

"In other words, never…"

"You talk a lot, but I haven't seen you do much at all. So maybe it is you who needs to be quiet."

"Oh be silent. It's not like you did any fighting at the courtyard yesterday. Nor did you do anything when Sora needed us the most!" Riku was getting hot-tempered now.

"Neither did you. From what I remember, Sophie helped him out the most.

You did as much as I did, so stop acting like you're the centre of attention."

"I'm not! You're just getting me pissed off! Leave me alone!" He shoved Cloud a bit, before running ahead.

'Kid's got emotional issues or something, but it's not my business to pry into others personal lives, just as much as I don't want others poking into mine.' Cloud thought, first feeling slight concern for Riku, but shutting it out as being none of his business.

Meanwhile, in the Gummi…

Sora struggled to stay awake. Every time his eyes shut, he shook himself to get them back open.

"Look, why don't you just sleep, Sora, you shaking constantly is annoying me." Sophie complained as she hung upside down, her feet seemingly glued to the roof.

"Can't." Sora replied, not wanting to have another 'dream'.

"Anyway, how do you do that?" He asked, noticing that she was hanging on to the flat roof, meaning nothing to grip on.

"Do what?"

"That!"

"What? Oh, you mean this? Well, if you just focus, you can walk up walls and stuff. Just concentrate and you'll do it easy." Sora stood up, and looked at the wall. He put one foot on the wall, but as he tried to put his other foot onto the wall, he fell backwards and landed on his head. While no pain was felt for obvious reasons, it made him look stupid still. Sophie laughed at Sora, who was flat on his back, grumbling.

"All it takes is a simple jump! Or, you can try running up the wall. Simple, seeing as how you can't walk on them yet."

Sora jumped in response, and turned upside down mid-jump and landed feet first on the roof. To his surprise and excitement, he stayed, and it felt like gravity was keeping him clamped to the roof, as if that jump had thrown gravity upwards.

"Wow, cool! I can walk on roofs and walls and-"

"Sora, don't, you'll-" She was cut off by his inevitable fall. "Fall…"

The excitement was cut short by the Gummi door outside opening. They heard it, and concealed themselves behind the pipes so as not to get scorched if someone opened the doors, and to be hidden if it was an intruder. A knock on the doors was heard.

"Sora?" Riku called, telling Sora and Sophie that Cloud was not too far behind also, or at least they thought he was…

"Come in. And close the door behind you." Sora called.

Riku walked in as instructed, and closed the door. But then he realized he

Couldn't see anything, as it was pitch black.

"Sora, where are you? I can't see a thing! Turn the light back on!"

"Umm… there is no light in this room?"

"You sure? Why have rooms with no lights?"

"Beats me, go ask Cid, he built the thing."

"Anyway, what did you want, Riku?" Sophie asked, pushing the topic forward.

"Seems like something bad is happening down at the village area. Maybe vampires, I can't confirm it yet. They've locked the place down too so it may be hard to get back in. We did meet Mulan however, but we had to leave pretty quickly after that."

"Well, it's nearly sundown, then we can go see her again."

Sora dropped from the ceiling, but landed on his head again. "Ouch…"

6:45pm: Sundown

The gang was already making their way towards the village, keeping their eyes open for any trouble.

"So Mulan's okay?" Sora asked Riku, getting details on his friend.

"Yeah, she's fine, but the village is on lockdown. The emperor has stopped all people entering or leaving the village until further notice. So it's best we avoid the village till we either find out what is going on, or make friends with the emperor."

"They've most likely got vampires after them, but just to-"

Sophie was cut off by a vampire springing out of the snow towards her. She quickly pulled out her gun and shot the vampire in the head, and a pile of ash landed at her feet. She put the gun away, as she saw the others had taken up battle stances. They were surrounded.

"It's 9 on 4 here, you got a plan?" Riku said, getting agitated as he held his keyblade up.

"Might be difficult if a few more show up. But we can handle this rabble." Cloud said, before rushing forward, sword pointing in said direction. He ended the attack with an upward strike, sending two enemies flying upwards. They both landed harshly, moaning in pain.

Sora and Riku tagged up, Riku dealing out the heavy damage, Sora finishing them off with his keyblade (My mistake for not mentioning that his keyblade has the power of silver and can kill a vampire!).

One by one, the vampires died. Eventually, only one was left.

"Alright, spill it, who sent you? You must have known we were definitely gonna come back, so who gave you that info?"

The vampire showed genuine fear. He clearly felt he was gonna die.

"You there! Stop!" Someone shouted. Sora looked toward the village to se several guards approaching. With everyone's attention drawn to the noise, the vampire took his chance and bolted it.

Sophie noticed, and went after him. "Hey! Get back here!" Sora and the others didn't follow, still concentrating on the approaching company. Sora had turned to look, but just brushed it off, thinking Sophie could handle herself.

The guards surrounded them.

"Drop your weapons. You are all under arrest."

"For what? What did we do?" Riku questioned, but a poke from the speakers spear told him he wasn't going to get an answer.

"Riku, put it away! We can't get into trouble with these guys. We

Haven't done anything, so they might let us go if we're quiet."

The speaker chucked a few ropes to the person holding a spear to Sora's neck.

"Tie them up."

Chapter End


	22. Chapter 21: Curse In Disguise

**Authors Note:** My god, how long has it been?

**Chapter 21: ****Curse In Disguise**

Sora was practically carrying Riku on his shoulders, as he was exhausted from all the walking, as they (with the exception of Sophie, who had done a runner before the guards got there) were led through the Imperial City. No-one saw them as everyone was inside, fearing that the 'thing' would strike tonight. Sora had never seen a city in fear, as he looked around, walking through the path that he was led on.

"This place sure has changed since I was last here…" Sora said.

"Be quiet, prisoner." The guard holding the end of the rope said, before giving Sora a poke with his javelin.

"Ow! Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?"

They finally reached the emperor's palace… or what remained of it. It looked like the lower walls were built of guards, and the red of the walls had dried up and was becoming a cold grey, or had been replaced by the red of the blood that was spattered here and there. The sight disgusted Sora, and made Cloud close his eyes.

"Don't like the sight of your own crimes, eh? Well, you'll be dealin' with the consequences soon enough, murderer!" The guard said at the back, holding the tail end of the rope.

Riku was near the breaking point with his temper, but Sora had told him that he had an idea, so he rode with it until they got to the jails. They were all thrown in together and the guards locked the bars behind them.

"The emperor will be down to see you in a moment. Then you'll get your just deserts."

They sat down, still tied together by the ropes.

"So you got a plan, Sora?" Riku asked, getting impatient.

"We wait." Sora replied.

"We wait? Sora, these people are gonna kill us for something we didn't do, and you're telling us to wait?"

"The emperor should recognise me, and if Shang or Mulan turn up, then all the better."

"You say that now, but most of your ideas are never that simple, Sora." Riku replied.

Meanwhile, Sophie had continued to chase the vampire that got away. For a couple of hours now, she had been running around the mountains, but the vampire had redirected to the Imperial City.

'Aagh! Gotta stop him before he reaches the town, or there'll be hell to pay!' Sophie thought.

The vampire suddenly stopped, bringing some confidence back to Sophie. 'Good, he's stopped. Now I'll get this punk.'

"Finally decided to stop, huh? Now I'll teach you a lesson-" Sophie was interrupted by footsteps coming her way.

"There she is! Protect the emperor!" a guard shouted, as 8 or 9 men approached her.

"What? Where's the emperor?" Sophie asked, confused.

"You haven't done your homework, have you lady? I AM the emperor!" The man shouted as he passed through the crowd of guards.

'So that's why the city's on lockdown. The enemy has full control of this world. Damn.' Sophie thought as she slowly backed up. Something told her that the man to the left of the emperor was not human. He was a vampire, just like the emperor was.

With quick thinking, she pulled her gun out, but the captain grabbed her by the wrist and disarmed her before she could fire. He then grabbed her by the throat and threw her into the nearby jagged boulder. She yelped in pain as she hit the thing hard. Had she been human it would have broken her spine but lucky for her, it just incapacitated her temporarily. She struggled to stand up, but the other guards pounded on her, not allowing her to get back up.

'Where is all my strength? Why do I feel so weak?' She didn't have time to think anything more, as a decisive blow to the back of the head by the captain knocked her unconscious.

"We better hurry and get her to the jails as soon as possible. Won't be long before she wakes up." The fake emperor said, taking her weapons from her.

Sora was waiting for the emperor to show up. He was taking forever.

"Man, the emperor sure is running slowly. When is he gonna show up?" Riku said, getting very annoyed with the situation now.

As if on cue, two guards came in to the jail and said in a loud voice:

"Make way for the great emperor of China!"

Sora turned around to see the emperor-

And in that split second, his heart sank.

It was not the emperor he had met in his journey two years ago, it was a new emperor. They were screwed.

"Put her in the other cell, I don't want him and her in the same cell together." He said, motioning to Sora, and Sophie's unconscious body slung over the captain's shoulder, who had also walked in with the emperor. The captain opened a cell and threw in Sophie, with a slight bit of harshness.

"So, you four are the group that has put my country into peril. Well, believe me, your rain of tyranny ends here and now. I have you captive, and you will be punished for your crimes. I'll give you till morning to think about this, and by then you better hope that you die by then."

The emperor turned his back, and nodded to the captain. The captain took a long stare at Sora. Sora felt his energy drain from him, and in a few seconds, he was near unconsciousness on the ground, twitching every now and then as if he had received a severe beating.

Riku realised that if they stayed in that cell till morning, Sora and Sophie would burn in the sunlight, and he and Cloud would be left for dead. They needed a plan, and fast.

Riku clawed his way out of the ropes fast but without alerting the nearby guard, and then helped Cloud untie himself. They motioned for Sora and Sophie to get on with it, but Sophie told them to go alone.

"Go on your own, that guard captain has the power to drain your strength by looking at you, and unfortunately, me and Sora got a dosage of it." Sophie told him.

"Then why wouldn't he use it on us?" Riku asked, curious.

"I don't know. Maybe it only works on vampires or something, look, just get going. And watch for that guard out there."

Riku quietly summoned his keyblade, and with accuracy, chucked it at the guard. It clunked him in the head, knocking him senseless, and then he took the blade back and stretched his arm through the bars to try and hook the keys with the keyblade. He eventually got the keys, and opened the cell door. He gave the guard one more kick to properly knock him out before he and Cloud walked off.

"Let's just hope it's not too close to the morning…"

Land of the Dragons – **4:00am**

**Chapter End**


	23. Chapter 22: Race Against Time

Authors Note: Aahh, it's been too long, hasn't it

**Authors Note:** Aahh, it's been too long, hasn't it? I'm trying my best to speed up, but college is a BIG time drag this year round. So much work means little 'me' time, and even less thinkin time.

**Chapter 22: Race Against Time**

Riku and Cloud had a stroke of luck while they were on their way out. A big meeting was going on in the centre of the palace, meaning none of the guards were around (The captain was sure their captives wouldn't break out) to stop them. They quickly zipped across the corridor to another door.

"You got any idea where we're going?" Cloud asked Riku.

"Of course not! But we have to hurry and find an exit, sitting here will solve nothing." He replied, in a whispering tone but clearly annoyed.

They slowly opened the door, discovering they had found the Emperor's Chamber. Luckily, though, they were on the 2nd floor and the guards were only posted up on the lower floors.

"Out of the frying pan, eh?" Riku said.

"I think something's going on. Let's see if we can hear what they're saying" Cloud said.

"Maybe we could if you'd be quiet!" Riku whispered loudly.

"Says you…"

They crouched down to listen in on the conversation. Speaking were the Emperor, his captain, and Mulan and Shang.

"…so they have been caught?" Shang asked.

"Yes, they are in the prison. We will decide what to do with them in the morning." The emperor replied.

"Sir, if I may ask…"

"Yes, Shang?"

"Are we absolutely sure that it was only the people you've caught? I mean, what if there are more?"

"There aren't any. I am sure of it. That will be all, I presume?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then you are dismissed."

As Shang and Mulan walked away, a cloaked man walked hastily towards the emperor. He stopped at the front of his chair, and whispered something into his ear. It was incoherent to Riku and Cloud.

"If only we had Sora or Sophie with us, maybe we could hear what they're saying…" Riku said, disappointed.

As the hooded man walked away, the emperor visibly grew agitated. He had an angry expression on his face. He immediately got up and faced his captain, giving him orders.

"I want the guards ready. If they are coming here to fight, then so be it. But we will not lose China this early in the game! GO! NOW!"

Before the emperor had even finished his sentence, the captain was dashing for the barracks, knowing what was coming.

Unfortunately, Riku and Cloud thought this meant that they knew they had escaped. Stupidly, they ran across the balcony, alerting a nearby guard who was in the opposite corridor.

"Hey you! Stop!" the guard said as he chased them.

"There aren't any other doors up here that aren't locked, Cloud!" Riku shouted.

"Well then screw the doors!" Cloud shouted back.

And without thinking, they jumped through the window, all the way down to the ground.

Or at least they should have. Instead they landed on a massive pile of soft snow. It still hurt like hell, but at least they hadn't killed themselves from the jump.

"Ouch, let's never do that again…" Riku said.

But as Cloud lifted his eyes to what stood ahead of him…

"Don't think we'll get that chance anyway…"

Surrounding them were 5 vampires, dressed in similar clothing to the guards, but where the colour should have been, there was nothing but black and grey.

But before they could even think about it, several blades shot through the vampires, killing them all instantly. The blades were actually silver daggers, and behind the vampires stood a lone person. Wearing an unzipped black coat and underneath, a dark red shirt covering his upper body. Around his neck, he wore a necklace with a cross on it, indicating he was a Christian. Lower down he wore tight black trousers and heavy cargo boots.

"Come on!" He shouted. Before they could ask, he saw several other guards taken out, disintegrate into ash. Others were subdued, Riku guessed that they were human and as such were being protected from the oncoming battle.

"What in god's name is going on?" Riku shouted.

"Haven't you heard? It's a battle, now come on!"

"No, wait! We have friends, still in the prison!"

"Ok then, let's move!" Without hesitation, they bolted for the jail, as the battle quickly became full-scale. Screams were heard. Some gunshots rang. The guards were so desperate to hold the line; they didn't take notice of Riku, Cloud or the man helping them. Because of this, they were easily able to get in the prison, and there lay Sora and Sophie, both happy to see their friends.

"You two get them to the ship, I'll defend us!" The man called to them as he stood at the door, and unleashed his weapon.

And to Riku's utter surprise, he too had a Keyblade.

"You got em?" He said to them.

"Yeah, let's get moving!" Riku said.

The battle made it hard for them to find a path through without getting in the way of anyone. A few guards broke lines to attack them, but the man held them off. It seemed like the man knew where he was going: out of the city. Away from the battle that raged on. A voice in Riku's head pleaded with him to turn back and help the people, but he didn't obey. He continued to run, Sora slung on his back.

Suddenly, the man stopped.

"Why are we stopping here?"

He stayed silent for a few seconds.

"We have company."

Time seemed to stand still as the y stood still. The man edged forward, barely enough to move him. Suddenly and without warning, he jumped back and chucked his Keyblade forward. As this happened, someone jumped out of the snow, deflecting the blade.

"The captain… You guys go, I got this."

"But-"

"Your friends need more attention than this, just go!" He raised his Keyblade, similar to Sora's it had reappeared in his hand. "And the name is Kaine, by the way." He said nothing more as he ran forward to combat his foe.

Riku didn't hold any longer and started running again, towards the hills where their escape lay.

Meanwhile, Kaine prepared to battle his opponent.

"You are in my way, boy. I will not let a little ass who wields a fancy key better me in a battle!" the captain announced, proud and cocky.

"We'll see. Just keep acting smart. It'll get you nowhere." Kaine replied.

Riku and Cloud did not hear anything else except the clashing of a blade against metal armour. He assumed that because he hadn't see the captain draw a weapon, he was fighting hand to hand. But that wasn't the main thing on his mind right now. What mattered was getting out of here. He felt guilt for leaving China in danger, but he knew he could do nothing.

When they reached the Gummi, Sora fell to the ground exhausted, but his friends didn't notice, still running for the ship. He struggled to get back to his feet, but then the sight behind him put a look of terror on his face.

The sun was rising.

Fearing the inevitable, he screamed as he fell off the rock he had fallen on hurting his leg and slowing him down. His friends heard it and realised Sora had fallen behind.

"Sora! What are you doing? Get in, quick! The sun is up!" Riku shouted at Sora. But he hadn't seen Sora's fall, and Sora was running out of what little energy he had left finding it hard to stand.

Quickly, the line of the sun raced towards Sora's position as he crawled towards the ship. 'He's not gonna make it!' Riku realised as he jumped out of the ship and ran for Sora. But he was too late, the sun making contact with Sora as it began to burn him alive. Sora first felt this by throwing up blood, indicating signs of internal damage. Just what had than man done to him? It wasn't important as he continued to crawl towards the ship, feeling his last ounce of energy drip away as he fell into the snow, moaning in pain as his back begun to smoke. It was on fire.

Riku finally reached Sora and grabbed him, but his back was badly damaged and sensitive, causing him to scream in pain as Riku picked him up and ran for the ship.

"Don't look at the light, Sora! Don't look!" Riku shouted, beginning to cry at the damage that was being done to Sora's back… that he was only making worse. Making a mad dash for the ship he quickly got in and raced for the back room and closed the door behind him. Collapsing on his knees with Sora falling in front of him. Sophie who was in the room rushed over and pulled Riku away.

"Get out of here, I'll help him!" Sophie ordered. Riku was frantic and bewildered at his friend nearly dying, but went for the door and carefully made sure not to get too much sunlight in the room. Luckily he didn't get either of them harmed.

"Okay, Sora, I need you to stay with me, you can pull through this." She took off his upper body clothing and checked his back. The burning had stopped, but blood was everywhere. Sora was hit bad. From what she could tell, Riku had gripped him too hard, causing blood to rush to the open wounds.

"You'll be fine Sora I just need to clean your wounds so you don't get too badly scarred…"

In the control room, Riku went straight for the controls to get them out of there, only to notice that they were already lifting off. Cloud was at the controls.

"You know how to fly a Gummi?" Riku asked, tears still in his eyes.

"No, but I can get auto-pilot running. So until Sora wakes up, we can't go anywhere new. We best go back to Hollow Bastion."

"I'm up for that. L-let's just get out of here…"

As the ship geared up and they began to lift off, Riku took one last look at what they were leaving behind. He felt so guilty. He could only hope that whoever was invading had good cause, and most importantly, that Sora would heal. He sat down in a seat in the back, bursting into tears.

Cloud turned around to check on Riku, hearing his sobs. 'Man, poor guy. I hope Sora's alright…'

The ship blasted off and in 5 seconds, they lost sight of the Land Of Dragons.

An Hour Later – Gummi Ship

Sora slowly woke up and scanned the area around him, realising he was back in the ship. He felt a slight pain in his head and his back, but other than that he felt his strength slowly return to him. He looked around and saw Sophie wasn't in the room. He decided to go to the front deck. In the control room, Riku was sleeping in the chair next to him. He also noticed Sophie was standing at the front of the ship, watching what lay ahead of them, and in the co-pilots seat was Cloud, also sleeping.

Before he could say anything however, Sophie turned around and put a finger to her lips, indicating he should be quiet and let them sleep. She leaned forward towards him and whispered in his ear:

"I drip fed you some blood earlier while you slept. You kept having spasms in your sleep, but I knew you'd be fine."

Spasms? Man, he knew he was a heavy sleeper, but…

Suddenly and without warning, the ship rumbled violently, throwing Sora out of his chair and sending Sophie hurling onto the floor. Riku woke up and realised something was terribly wrong. Rushing to the controls, he looked at the damage and realised someone had shot their engine.

"We're going down! And fast! Buckle up!"

**End Chapter**

**Authors Note:** Again, I deeply apologise for the wait.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own KH or FF. I do however, own Sophie. Kaine belongs to KHfanatic a.k.a. Tuba Bean.


	24. Chapter 23: One Of Us

**Authors Note:** Man, it's been that long? I'm sorry, now on with the new chapter NOW!

**Chapter 23: One Of Us**

Sora woke up to a bleak urban alleyway. He looked around him. His eyesight took a few seconds to adjust, but he quickly realised that surrounding him was a wreck…

He looked around for any sign of his friends, but nothing. No-one was there. Suddenly, it began to rain, and he got soaked. He quickly ran under a hollow piece of the ship to avoid completely soaking his clothes, only to realise that the clothes were completely dry. He, on the other hand, was not.

'Damn, if only they'd dry me too…' he moaned in his head. But his whining was interrupted by footsteps he picked up nearby. Thinking it might be Riku, he stepped out to see, and was introduced to a boot, right to face, breaking his nose.

He fell to the ground, clutching his nose, but he was bleeding profusely. His first instinct was to crawl away, but the man grabbed him by the back of the neck and pulled him up, putting them face to face with each other.

The man was very young, resembling Riku in his stature and silver-platinum hair. But his face was different and looked angry. He couldn't make out much more because his eyesight was becoming blurred by his busted nose, but he could make out that his eyes were red, indicating a vampire. Who was he, and why was he angry at Sora?

"So you're the one…" The man said.

"I'm…" Sora stuttered as he was attempting to regain his composure. "Please, what did I do?"

He was answered by being thrown across the alley, stopping by the wall.

"You won't even own up to your crimes? How pathetic… then if you won't be a man, you'll die like a rat." He walked toward Sora. "And I'm not in the mood to give you a painless death either."

Sora cringed up in the corner and closed his eyes, wanting this to be a dream. But it was real, and he knew full well what was coming.

Acting on instinct, he quickly got up and ran as fast as he could down the alleyway. He could barely see now, and it looked like the alley was never-ending, not doing much to help with his morale, which had completely gone by now.

The man growled angrily as he chased after Sora, catching up with him easily. He grabbed Sora by his jacket and with ease, chucked him towards the wall, stopping him in his tracks.

"Hmm… you seem determined not to attack me, yet you are desperate to evade your impending return to Hell. In that case… I think I will give you a quick death, because I have no more time to play with you."

And then what shocked Sora next is that his attacker summoned none other than a Keyblade.

"A… Keyblade? So that would make you a Keyblade Bearer…" Sora sputtered.

The man was seemingly hesitant to kill his target, hearing those words come out of his mouth.

"Hmm… and what would you know of the Keyblade?"

"I know because…" Sora suddenly stood up and smacked the Keyblade out of the man's hand with his own. "I am the Keyblade Master!" Sora proclaimed. He wiped his face to try and clear up his vision.

"Impossible! You, of all people can't be the Keyblade Master!" the man was getting angry now, his eyes beginning to glow.

"Don't judge a book by its cover!" Sora shouted. 

"Stop!" A familiar voice proclaimed. From out of nowhere, Kaine jumped in between them, drawing his own Keyblade ready to defend himself if necessary.

"Victor! Are you insane?" Victor, realising that he was about to go berserk, stood back shocked, realising who his target really was.

'Wait a minute… He is…!'

"Sora, are you alright?" Kaine asked him.

"Never better cough" Sora replied.

Later…

In a large mansion was where Sora slept. It was daytime again. Riku sat by the bedside happy he was ok. Cloud and Sophie stood nearby, while Kaine laid out the details.

"He should be fine. A broken nose is nothing for a vampire, especially when the vampire is the Keyblade Master. He should heal up by the night." Kaine told them.

"I can't believe this happened. Who did this?" Riku demanded.

"Well, the person who did it thought he was someone else-"

"Who was it?" He asked again, more sternly this time.

"Alright, it was a friend of mine. And don't go looking for him. His dad's the big cheese of vampires around here. He doesn't like it when people go beating up his kin."

"I don't care! They're vampires, and they wanted to take Sora out, I'll kill both of them!"

"Look, I just said they thought it was someone else! You're forgetting Sora is a vampire too!"

"SO?"

"So, they are vampire hunters, they hunt evil vampires for a living, as do I, so the mistake was easily made!" Now please, calm down."

They quieted down for a bit, and Riku quietly asked: "So… why did he attack Sora?"

"Well, it's like this. We were asked by another vampire clan to assassinate a kid vampire whom would be protected by a keyblade wielder, a sword-master and another female vampire…"

_A week earlier…_

_A man wearing a long thick black coat with a hood walked into the Hellsing Mansion. Most of his features were hidden by his hood, although two individuals could easily identify him in the dark, although his name escaped them._

_He sat in a nearby seat as if waiting for someone. He didn't have to wait long._

_Walter, the butler of the mansion, walked up to the man and said:_

"_The lady of the house will see you now, sir. It's just this way."_

_The man stayed silent as he was led to a private room on the second floor. In there sat a woman with blonde hair, wearing a suit and round glasses. The person knew instantly who she was._

"_Lady Hellsing."_

"_So you are the one who wished to see me in private. You had best not be wasting my time."_

"_Don't worry. My business here is important. Although I will admit it is also personal to me."_

"_So what is it you wish me to give you?"_

"_Your services."_

_The lady paused to take a sip of her tea. "Go on."_

"_There is someone I want dealt with. As you might guess, he is a vampire, which is why I came to you."_

"_Can't you track him down yourself? You are after all, as I can tell, a -"_

"_He is difficult to track. He is always one step ahead. But I hoped that maybe with some help I can stop this menace."_

"_How does stopping him help us, or anyone other than you?"_

"_Well for one thing, he is a very powerful warrior, but he targets both humans and vampires. I'm not quite sure what his true purpose is, but he has already attacked several of my clan. We are a peaceful group, but we can take action if we must."_

"_Alright then, let me see him."_

_The man handed her a file. In it was a picture of Sora, along with a description of him. Behind it were similar details on his friend, Riku._

"_They may have more people with them."_

"_This one with the silver hair is not a vampire."_

"_His bodyguard, so to speak, thus why he may have extra support."_

_Hellsing overlooked the files carefully before stating that she would consider it, depending on numerous factors. The man promptly left, leaving Hellsing with the file._

"_So, what do you think?" Hellsing spoke out loud._

"_The man is hiding something. But if this child is who he says he is, he should promptly be dealt with. We can't risk another outbreak of vampires." A man said as he suddenly revealed himself from the shadows. Alucard, the greatest vampire known._

"_So be it. I leave you and your son to take care of it. Do as you will."_

"_As is your wish, my Lady." And with that, Alucard disappeared into the shadows again._

"…and that's what the conversation was about. Never would have thought you two would be the ones that guy was talking about. Whoever he was, he wanted you out of the picture. Either way, just thank god Alucard never showed, or he would have been killed."

"Who is this Alucard, anyway?"

"He is the man personified commonly in fairy tales as 'Dracula'. I don't know the full details on how he was resurrected, or why he helps us rather than them, but I won't complain. He's a cool guy, although it's a bit unnerving whenever I'm near him, cause he's really tall. There's this other girl that he once turned to save her life, called Sera, but I don't see her much. She's usually with the rest of the actual army."

"They sure do accept vampires around here." Riku said.

"Well, we kinda keep it a secret from the outside world. They'd go ballistic if they knew about it."

"Hmm. Well, anyway, we gotta get this guy then. Don't want him running around spurting lies about us if its going to get us killed."

"Well then, we can go looking for him at night. We'll need your friend's help, anyway."

**Authors Note:** Cutting this chapter short because I have stuff needs doing. Again, SO SORRY for the wait!


	25. Chapter 24: The Hunt Is On

Authors Note: I AM ALIVE

**Authors Note:** I AM ALIVE! So sorry for delay again!

**Chapter 24: The Hunt Is On**

Night-time had surrounded London. The humans began to all go inside, while the creatures of the night had come out to play. Sora, Cloud, Sophie, Riku, Kaine, Victor and Alucard were just a small group of those out, but they weren't here to play, they were looking for someone. Sora and Riku knew how important it was that they be found, as this person could very well be related to the clan that was after them, so time was of the essence. Alucard led the pack, with Sora and Victor following close behind. They were engaged in conversation.

"Sorry for scaring you earlier, Sora." Victor said.

"It's alright. I'm already used to taking face plants on the ground by now. Getting bloodied up however is not what I had in mind." Sora replied.

"You get used to it and all. Being half-vampire however means it can take longer for you though."

"So is that really the only difference between half and full vampires, like yourself? Power?"

"No, while that is the most governing factor that full vampires grow their powers faster and better, they can also gain the power to survive the sun quicker. And full-vampires must take human blood, vampire blood is incompatible unless your a halfling. Plus, if you're half-vampire, you can be turned back with a blood transfusion. If you're a full vampire, then you're stuck that way."

"So I guess only family members can be full vampires."

"Not necessarily. It is possible to perform a ritual that will turn a half-vampire into a full-vampire completely. Also certain vampires have the ability to choose which they will turn their prey into."

"So it is possible to cure vampirism if you are only half-vampire?"

"First off, I don't appreciate your use of the word 'cure', you sound like this is a disease. It's not. Second, why would you want to turn back? It's not like it affects how you look, or anything!"

"Maybe it's because it's better than being something most people are afraid of." Riku retorted.

"Riku, please. Let's not cause problems?" Sora asked Riku. He silenced himself but with an annoyed look on his face.

"Your friend does not seem to understand the situation fully." Alucard said to Sora, referring to Riku.

"He can be a hothead sometimes. He's just overprotective of me and Kairi."

"Who is Kairi?"

"A friend of ours back at home, on Destiny Islands."

"I see. I sense you have saved her twice before."

"I didn't know vampires could read minds."

The journey continued with not much talking, but eventually, they reached a nightclub.

"This is the place where he will be. He owns this club. We must be wary. They will kill any humans on sight unless they are notorious, so Riku, Kaine and Cloud must stay outside. Sophie can stay as well." Alucard briefed the team.

"I guess I'm okay with that. Be careful, Sora." Riku told his friend.

"Wow, you're usually never okay with these things." Sora replied.

"Well, I guess if you trust these guys, then you'll do what you gotta do."

"If you wish, you may stay here with your friends. It is not required that you also come." Alucard told Sora.

"No, I want to see what I'm up against. I have to face this."

"Very well then. Shall we?"

Riku, Cloud, Kaine and Sophie took point on a nearby roof, while Alucard, Victor and Sora entered.

As soon as they got in, Sora felt uneasy. He could see many eyes were focused on him. 'This must be a full-vampire hangout or something, it's like they know I'm a half-vampire!' He kept his composure however as they approached the back rooms. As expected, a guard stopped them.

"You got business here, Alucard?" The guard asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do. Now step aside." Alucard looked at him with glaring eyes. The guard got nervous and stood aside, fearing the vampire lord.

They entered the back, and ahead of them was a hallway with several locked rooms. At the end was a room without a lock that said 'Management'.

The group entered to find a man on the phone. He had light grey hair and looked like a well-built man who kept a check of his body's shape, despite looking older than he should. His red eyes gave away the obvious. The man looked up to check his visitors. He was about to say something, but upon laying his eyes on Sora, he went wide-eyed. In a split second, he jumped for the door, much to the surprise of the group, who swiftly gave chase.

Upon reaching the main area again, however, they were blocked by many vampires. Many vampires looking for a feast, but not knowing what they were dealing with. Instinctively, they all went for the weak target; Sora. Seeing this, Victor and Alucard immediately came to aid, but there were many. Sora tried to defend himself but eventually he was grabbed from behind and a knife was put through his back. He screamed in pain, only for the attacker to stab him a second time, in a different place. This time he went silent as blinding pain overtook him. Before the attacker could deal a third blow, however, Victor sliced his head off, killing him. Sora slumped to the ground.

Quickly and efficiently, the enemies were dealt with. Sora was badly wounded and losing blood but the wounds were healing up.

"You haven't had enough blood, Sora. You need more." Alucard told him.

"Tell me… something I don't know… cough" Sora replied.

He brought Sora up and led him to a dying vampire.

"Now's your chance, Sora."

"Chance for what?"

"You need blood. If you're sceptical about taking it from humans, then take it from vampires."

"But-"

"You'll never survive if you don't take blood, Sora, so stop walking away from what you must do."

He realised that he had no choice. He would have to do this if he wanted to survive.

But why did his life have to be about survival all of a sudden? Why had he been thrust into this situation? Was it fair? So many questions running through his head, he just wanted a clear answer. He knew that if he didn't try to understand, there wouldn't be an answer for him.

He sunk his fangs into the neck of the vampire, and began sucking. It seemed to last forever, but Sora felt like he was in pure euphoria. It felt so refreshing to take another's blood. He felt nourished, healthy, and he felt alive. Eventually, the vampire crumbled to dust, but because Sora was still sucking, he breathed in a bit of dust, causing him to hack. Victor burst out laughing.

"Ha! That's such a newbie mistake to make!" Victor proclaimed.

"Let's not waste anymore time. We have an enemy to catch." Alucard said. The group headed off.

**End Of Chapter**

**Authors Note:** another short chapter, I know, there is no excuse. But college finishes at May 23rd! Anyway, see ya!


	26. Chapter 25: No TIme To Lose

Chapter 25: No Time to Lose

**Authors Note:** I've gotta say, for those who stick on to this story despite my extreme slowness, I love you guys. I really am not worth your time because I suck. I started writing this right after I finished the last chapter but forgot about it completely until just now, 2 months later. How bad is that? Hopefully I can pick up the pace and get you guys more enthralled with this. Again, for all my supporters and watchers, THANK YOU.

**IMPORTANT!: Chapter 22 (Race Against Time) has been redone with a new story part. Read it if you haven't! If you are reading this story that chapter after 27/07/08 then ignore.**

**Chapter**** 25: No Time to Lose**

Sora, Victor and Alucard quickly rejoined the others, who had already noticed the guy running away and were giving chase as well. They quickly all caught each other and rejoined. No-one had noticed, however, that Alucard had disappeared, but Victor sensed it and knew. He didn't say anything though, because he knew his father went off to play mind games with their prey.

"What he hell happened in there? And why is this guy running from us?" Riku said to Sora as they ran.

"He's the one that put us in the crosshairs when we got here. Now he's running from us!" Sora smiled at Riku with his trademark goofy smile like it was a normal thing.

Doing this however made something catch Riku's eye. Sora's fangs. They had blood on them. 'What the?' Riku was worried. His usual train of thought made him believe that Victor or Alucard, maybe both, had something to do with it. He focused on catching up with this guy. He also realised that Alucard was gone. But that wasn't important right now.

As if right on cue, Heartless appeared out of nowhere, surprising the group.

"Heartless?! Here?" Riku called out, summoning his keyblade. "Wait! Riku, Cloud, Victor, go! We'll handle these guys!" Sora commanded.

"Ok then, Sora, be careful!" Riku said as they ran off to catch up with the enemy. Sora and Kaine summoned their keyblades, while Sophie got ready to punch out the Heartless (She wouldn't want to waste silver bullets on them).

Meanwhile, Riku, Cloud, and Victor had caught up to the guy. Cornered in a dead end alleyway, he had no way out. Victor could tell his father was nearby.

"You've got nowhere to go! Now just give it up, or face death! Your choice!" Victor declared to the man.

Victor noticed something about this man. He was stronger than he was making out. Was this a trap?

"Hmm. I'm rather disappointed. I would have hoped that Sora would have followed you here. Unfortunately, it appears he has some sense. The name is Simon, and if you think I'm some chump vampire who just chickened out of a fight, then you are dearly mistaken." The man known as Simon told them

Victor stared in shock as he realised who he was "He's Zangyre's son!"

"Guys, get back. Trust me. This isn't your fight." Victor said to his companions. Riku was sceptical of this, but knew that Victor was serious. Cloud and Riku stepped back immediately. Simon drew a double-edged sword from his sheath.

Victor drew his keyblade, not taking his eyes off of his opponent. He knew that this would be a fierce battle.

'Hurry up, Dad. Where did you go? I need your help!'

Sora and co. were having trouble clearing out the Heartless. It was like every time one was killed, two more took its place, and they were starting to get tired.

'Dammit, if this keeps up, I may lose control! I've got to get them clear!' Kaine thought.

"Guys, get back, I'll handle this lot!" Sora and Sophie were reluctant to reverse direction but did as asked. Soon after Kaine felt the changes occur in him. His hair began to spike slightly as his eyes turned yellow. His nails sharpened so they were hard enough to shred bone, his teeth grew into fangs, and his body muscle increased. He had activated his rage.

Without abandon he went right into the pack of Heartless, tearing them apart like paper. They couldn't regenerate fast enough to keep up with him.

'Wow… what is he?' Sora thought, surprised at Kaine's sudden change in pace. Within seconds the Heartless were down from many to few, and the few left retreated, smart enough to leave.

"Man, you tore through them! Just what was that?" Sora asked.

"That was my inner rage. It boosts my power tremendously but at the cost of my sanity during its use. Not a good idea unless you're desperate or no allies nearby. It can activate itself if you don't control your emotions well." Kaine explained as the yellow hue finally disappeared from Kaine's eyes, fully returning him to normal.

"I've heard of that power. I thought the bloodlines that carried it were dead." Sophie asked.

"Well, you've heard of blood transfusions, right? Well a while ago I was in a nasty accident that nearly killed me and my brother (catch that reference, KHfanatic?). To save me, both of us required heavy nanomachine repairs and massive blood transfusions, having lost a lot of our blood. I my self had lost an arm and a leg." Kaine said as he pulled up his left sleeve, where a silver glow could be seen in the nightlight. "However the military had taken great interest in me because of my keyblade, so they gave me a transfusion of that bloodline's blood, thus giving me the power of Rage. At first I felt like I was losing my mind, but they kept me alive, despite me accidentally mauling one of the militants. Eventually I got control of it and I chose to disappear off the military's radar, finding Hellsing and deciding to work for them."

"Sounds like you had a rough life." Sora said.

"Friend, if you think that's depraved, you'll wanna hear the first half of my life sometime." Kaine replied.

"Oi, you two, less talking, more catching up!" Sophie called at the other end of the street. Sora and Kaine ran after Sophie.

Meanwhile, Simon and Victor were duelling it out in the alleyway. They were not using the full of their powers. Both were trying to trick the other into thinking they had reached their limit. The battle was a slow one, neither man barely moving except for when they saw even the slightest defect in the others defence. Victor however had avoided doing this as much, although this was also because Simon's stance was rock solid.

'He knows what I'm not good at and he's taking advantage of that. His defence is nearly flawless; he has rarely made a mistake. I can't afford to show any signs of weakness however. I must make him think that I am at my limit, like him. Then I'll strike.' Victor thought as he was circled slowly by Simon.

"Come on, somebody do som- mmmf!" Riku tried to finish that sentence, but Cloud had muted him by covering his mouth with his hand.

"Quiet, they are concentrating. Even the slightest annoyance for Victor could get him killed, you fool." Cloud whispered into Riku's ear.

Suddenly, Simon's movement halted for a split second, catching Victor's eye immediately.

'Got you!' Victor thrust forward to strike his opponent, but Simon had it scouted… or so he thought.

'Obvious.' He thought as he easily jumped above the attack. But he was surprised by Victor drawing his second keyblade from his other hand and moving it in a semi-circle downward thrust, towards Simons jump trajectory. 'Crap! It was a trap!' He instantly attempted to alter his course, but Victor covered his other side by swinging his other keyblade up towards him, effectively trapping him in a claw like fashion. Simon was able to dodge the first keyblade just barely escaping with a scrape on his cheek, but the other keyblade made full contact with his leg, breaking it there and then. Simon lost his concentration and was thrown by his own force onto the ground, now unable to stand upright. He screamed in pain as he hit the floor head first.

Victor smirked in his cocky fashion as he lowered his keyblades, watching Simon very carefully. Simon, however, didn't get up. He just clutched his leg in agony, which had its bone sticking through the flesh. Victor realised that those rumours he had heard were true. He wasn't as strong as he had originally interpreted.

"So it's true. You are the son of a Nobody. No wonder your defence faltered so badly when it did. You can't heal as fast, so you'll be like that for much longer…"

"Shut up…" Simon uttered in between gasps.

"You're only a half-vampire, battles like this aren't for you. You still have a lot to learn."

"Shut up!" Simon sprung forward on his one good leg but Victor just walked to the side easily evading it, resulting in more agonizing cracks from Simon's landing.

"Just give up and go home, you fool. You can't win. Your blood is weaker than that of your family."

"Shut up! I'm as strong as any of you, and I'll prove it someday!" He suddenly thrust his hand into the ground and the Heartless appeared. He stepped into the portal that they came from, not saying a word as he left.

"We'll take care of-huh?" Riku was about to strike at the Heartless, but they suddenly all disappeared.

"Probably just guards to make sure we didn't stop him from leaving." Cloud uttered as he turned to leave the alleyway, Victor and Riku following him. Just as they were leaving, Sora and co. arrived.

"We missed the fight didn't we?" Sora asked, already having worked out the result.

"He got away, but he's injured. Badly, might I add." Victor said, still smirking.

"Lemme guess, it was a piece of cake for you, wasn't it?" Kaine asked.

"I expected at first more of a challenge, but turns out he is the son of a Nobody."

"You're kidding! It's true?" Kaine was gobsmacked.

"Yep, and I'll tell you all about it as soon as we get back. Speaking of which, you guys haven't my dad, have you?…"

**Chapter End**


	27. Chapter 26: True Heroes

Chapter 26: True Heroes

**Chapter 26****: True Heroes**

The crew were back on the Gummi Ship (minus Kaine and Victor, whom had stayed behind to lock down the area) travelling towards Olympus Coliseum, their next destination. Cloud was sleeping in the back, sword draped over his shoulder in case they should come under any surprises. Sora was sitting at the front next to Riku for once, looking ahead at their destination. Sora was explaining to the crew that they would have to initially land in the Underworld to be safe, so at least they had a safe hiding place for the day. Sora knew however, that Hades wouldn't just let them sit there for free. He'd probably want something…

"…So we'll need a bargaining chip of some sort." Sora finished his description.

"Well how about, we promise not to throw him to the wolves for the third time?" Riku muttered sarcastically.

"He's a god, Riku. He'll just come back every time. It only gets him angrier when we do that."

"Well, if he's the so-called 'Lord of the Underworld', then I bet that the vampires talking the lives for their own would piss him off." Sophie said.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he s the lord of the dead, right? So that means he manages the lost souls that come here. With the vampires robbing world-loads of souls of their bodies, that's a lot of traffic for him to deal with. If we promise to stop it, then maybe he'll crack."

"Well, I guess we'll find out, won't we? Hopefully Hercules isn't too distracted to help us out."

Meanwhile…

Hades was standing by the window in his chamber, watching the souls as they swam endlessly in the air around him.

"Geeze, they just keep on comin. Soon there won't be any room left. Ahh, but what do I care if they all keep comin? It's not like I'm at risk…"

The crew had just landed at The Centre of the Underworld (The area connected to Olympus Coliseum) and so they were all safe from the sunlight beaming down on the arena outside. Luckily, the sun couldn't shine in dark places such as the Underworld. They immediately pressed on towards Hades personal chambers.

"So what's he like?" Sophie asked, curious.

"He can be a bit of a joker, but don't be fooled. He can easily beat all of us down in a few seconds." Sora explained.

"Man, this would be the perfect pad for me. Dark, gloomy, no sunlight, big, just the way I like it." Sophie exclaimed. "Glad to finally be somewhere I can enjoy."

"Uh, guys? We got company!" Cloud spoke out to the team as Heartless appeared all around.

But as soon as they appeared, they all fell. They had been cut down by what appeared to be a slice of wind. But that was untrue as the reason stopped in front of the crew, holding out a large sword, not as big as Clouds, but to Sora it was instantly recognizable.

"Auron?" Sora shouted to the man. There was a pause.

"Sora. We meet again." Auron turned around as he rested his sword on his sword. "And I see you have new friends with you." He said, implying he was asking for introductions.

"Oh! This is Riku, Cloud, and Sophie." They all held up a hand in response, gesturing a 'hello' to him.

"I see." Auron turned to Sora, noticing the difference in him. "So you, too… have become one of them?"

"Yeah." Sora put his hands behind his back, not knowing what else to say.

"We had better find Hades. It's madness around here. The dead souls are leaking out and, like their master, they are unbeatable. Nothing puts them down."

"What exactly is going on?" Sophie asked, worried about the situation.

"Some sort of overload of souls coming to the Underworld means the place is overflowing with souls. There is no longer enough room to hold them all until they completely pass through to the next life. Instead, they are passing back into the real world, and attacking the living. While they cannot kill us, they can drain all our strength. So we must be wary." The gang pressed on, killing the Heartless and avoiding the spirits. Eventually they reached the chambers.

"Here it is. Be careful guys." Everyone drew their weapons before continuing.

As they approached the room, they heard voices. One was definitely Hades, but the other was unrecognizable.

"So you're telling me that your boys little fun run is what's causing this slight overflow in my realms? Man, he must be a little peeved if he's causing this much damage." Hades said, looking over the mayhem below.

"Exactly. And you can see the results. They can drain the energy of anyone in seconds, and you still have a control of them. What more could you ask for?" The other person said. He was wearing a cloak, making his face shrouded.

Hades stood in thought. "So, these unbound souls… Can they affect, oh, I don't know… other gods?" The figure nodded. "Well, that's good news. However, just one thing. Someone like you wouldn't have come here if he didn't want something…"

"True. There is. We need you to take down the gods. Start with Hercules-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, that's a bit right off the bat if you know what I mean. I mean, come on, this would make Hercules a cakewalk, but separating the rest of the gods is, how do I put this lightly, impossible!"

"Well, you have the titans…"

"Hold it right there, Hades!" Sora shouted out as he and the gang ran into sight.

"Oh, for the love of- Can't you guys take a hint and buzz off? I have things to do! Heroes to smash! I haven't got time for your stupid games, so get lost!" Hades turned red as he ended his sentence, getting ready to throw fireballs at the group. Cloud deflected it with a single swipe of his sword. The rest of the group got into fighting stances.

"Sora…" the cloaked figure muttered. "We meet at last. What an honour." Sophie tensed at hearing that voice.

'Who is he? I recognise that voice… It was someone important, but who?'

"Guys, be careful, this guy is strong. I can't remember who he is, but I know this for sure! Be careful!" The party got ready for a fight.

The cloaked figure shook his head. "You all… are very brave. But I don't have the time for this. Hades, he's yours." A flash of darkness happened, and he was gone.

"Hey! Where'd you go? You can't leave me here with these idiots! Come back and fight!" Hades shouted into the air, angry at being abandoned by the man. "Grr… Geeze, maybe we can work this out, I mean, surely you guys wouldn't have come here if you weren't looking to get something, right?" He paused, looking at his opponents. "Please?"

Sora lowered his Keyblade. "What's going on, Hades? Why aren't you stopping the souls of the dead from coming into the real world?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe I'm doing it because it is useful. I still have to beat Wonderboy up there, you know that."

"By playing dirty?"

"Kid, you know me, I NEVER play fair. Stop acting like giving me a beating is gonna change me or the way I do business. Now scram, I got plans to do." He walked over to his chair and sat down, clicking his fingers as he rested. From the window appeared five souls. The team jumped back in response. "Please make sure our cordially uninvited guests leave the area as soon as possible." The souls did nothing. "Like, NOW!" They came after the team, Cloud and Auron slashing them away, but in vain, as they showed up again just seconds later, unharmed.

"Run!" Auron called to the group. They followed suit as the souls chased them.

"Suckers! Come on, put up a fight next time!" Hades shouted down to the crew as they ran, not bothering to chase them, leaving the job to his 'minions'. The gang ran down the Valley towards the exit, luckily avoiding combat with the souls by simply dodging them. But they were building in number and pretty soon they would have problems.

"They're too many in number! Pretty soon we'll be in trouble, and big time!" Cloud said looking behind him, watching the ghost-like figures, high in amount, chase after them. As they were running, Sora remembered that there was a big door that he had unlocked to get here. Maybe if he locked it back up…

As they passed the doorway, they stopped, noticing Sora had his Keyblade pointed towards the doorway. The familiar light emanated from the tip of the blade, shooting towards the door, finally stopping dead centre. A bright light enveloped the open doorway, before pulling back to reveal the door was shut, with a giant lock on it.

"Hopefully that will stop them." They waited a few seconds before deciding that it would hold them back. "Let's go." As they walked up toward the stairway to the real world, they realised it was still bright outside. "You guys go ahead. If we hold off much longer, then Hades will win. Me and Sophie will stay here and hold the fort, so to speak." Sora looked around. "If Heartless show up, we'll be ready."

"Alright then, stay safe." Riku said to the two as he and Cloud began to walk off. As Auron walked with them, he couldn't shake off the feeling this wasn't a good. Idea.

The three that proceeded saw up ahead a figure trying to fight off a pack of Heartless. They immediately stood in to fight, and with ease, the Heartless were gone. The group relaxed.

"Who are you guys?" The man asked.

"I'm Riku. This is Cloud and Auron." Riku replied.

"Name's Hercules." He replied.

"Hercules, huh? Sora mentioned that name before…" Riku trailed off.

"You know Sora? Then I guess I can trust you guys. Where is the kid, anyway?"

Riku thought about the best way to word this. "He's holding the fort somewhere in the Underworld while we make sure everything's fine up here."

"So you know about the problem with the Underworld, huh?"

"Yeah. Is there anyway to actually beat those things?"

"Not that I know of. And I doubt Hades would talk to us about it."

"Well, he is controlling the things, so I guess-"

"Hey, champ! You destroyed those guys!" A small satyr said as he came out of the coliseum.

"Hey, Phil! Good to see you're ok." Hercules said. Phil turned to the other three.

"And these three?"

"They're friends of Sora's."

"So where is the junior hero? That kid'll get nowhere unless he's training."

"Well, I'm sure the Heartless in the Underworld are giving him plenty of training. We can go get him later." Riku responded

"Sounds like he's slacking and you three are covering for him."

"Not really, but we'll go get him later. Hercules, Hades is looking to settle the score with you." Riku continued.

"And he's controlling those souls. He couldn't care less about what danger it puts everyone in." Cloud finished.

"Sounds like he needs a lesson in how to behave! I'll go with you, and besides, I have no problem handling the souls."

"Sounds like a plan-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, champ and chumps! You're not going anywhere till you complete today's training!" Phil interrupted, causing Riku to do a take.

"You are kidding, right? We have to go stop Hades… and you're making us train?" Riku asked, dumbfounded.

"Well, maybe we could train, after all, Hades isn't going anywhere, and even if he did, the Underworld is a small place. Not many hiding places." Hercules suggested.

"Riku, we could use a bit of training, especially you and me. Auron may have been fighting a while, but we have been a bit rusty. If Sora was here I'd suggest he train too."

"Then get to it, trainees! Can't be heroes if you don't train like heroes!"

Back in the Underworld…

Sora and Sophie waited patiently by the entrance for sundown.

"I wish the sun would shove itself already. I'm bored stiff." Sora said as he sat against a stone pillar. "I want something to happen already." Sophie considered complaining about his talking which was disturbing her rest, but she resisted, knowing it would not yield any results.

"Well if you wanted something to happen, all you had to do was ask." Hades appeared right next to Sora. He flinched in response. "I mean, come on, you're obviously looking for someone, because you haven't yet challenged me, and you're still here, so it's just my guess." He waited for a response that didn't come, although he got a mean look from both Sophie and Sora. "Let's cut to the chase. You obviously want to know who that guy was that I was speaking to, right? Well how about I tell you?"

Sora raised an eye brow. "You help us? Sorry, but I'm not buying it."

"Okay, so there will be a little something I need in return, but hey, details. Anyway, you do me this favour, and I'll give you what you want. Deal?"

Sora crossed his arms. "Sorry, but the answer is still no. Now go away."

Hades cackled. "Kid, I don't know who you think you are dealing with…" Spinning around to punch Sophie, turning her lights out. Sora jumped up and summoned the Keyblade in response. "But I am the Lord of the Dead. It's not a multiple choice question. You'll do it if I tell you to." Suddenly Sora felt like his energy was being sapped. He turned around to see many souls latching on to him, draining him like a carton of juice. Sora tried to run away but they just held on, and eventually his running was reduced to a crawl, following with him falling into unconsciousness.


	28. Chapter 27: The Match Is On!

**Chapter 27: ****The Match Is On!**

Sora came to in a place he recognized as Hades' Chamber. Or rather, it was upside down. Sora quickly realised he was strapped into 4 iron chains, each going off in a different direction, holding him in mid-air. He looked up and saw he had been stripped of most of his gear except his t-shirt and trousers. He was thankful being a vampire meant no sense of temperature, or he'd be freezing right about now. He looked below him, and saw what looked like a bottomless void of swirling black, like a whirlpool.

A puff of smoke indicated his captor had returned.

"Ah, so our star of the show is awake! How do you feel? Comfy?" Hades asked in his sarcastic manner.

"Oh yeah, I'm tied up and hanging above a pit. I'm real comfy here, Hades." He pulled a little at the chain on is left arm.

"Oh come on, a grown boy's gotta train! After all, the Underdrome tournament is right around the corner, and you need to be in fighting form if you're gonna do as well as you did last time you were here! I can see it now; ladies and gentlemen, the returning champion of the Underdrome; Sora!"

"I like the returning champion bit. Sounds cool. That's it though." Sora said.

"That's nice to know. I knew you'd love it!" Hades smiled at Sora's positive answer. "But I have told you already. I know you're planning something, and I am not falling for it. I'll give you the answer one last time: NO." Hades, disgruntled, clicked his fingers. It was followed with the chains tightening; now pulling Sora to his limits. He grunted in pain. "You are going to compete this year kid." He grabbed on to Sora's shoulder, and a red aura started to flow from Sora to Hades. "And this time, you are gonna do it MY WAY!"

Riku and the others were walking down the steps to the underworld, chatting about the upcoming event.

"…So Hades hosts this event every year just to try and put you down? The guy needs a hobby." Riku said to Hercules as they began to walk down the steps.

"Well, he is persistent. But I am surprised the gods haven't taken action." Cloud uttered.

"They don't take action because he is still the god of the underworld. Without him, we'd be in a deeper hole than we are now, and the underworld would have been overrun ages ago." Auron answered.

They continued to walk in silence until they reached the bottom of the steps. What greeted them was an unconscious Sophie. They rushed to pick her up and bring her back into consciousness.

"What happened, Sophie? Where's Sora?" Riku asked her.

"Hell if I know, I got knocked out before anything happened. But it was definitely Hades."

"Where is he?" Riku asked.

"Probably off hiding in his dungeon. Let's go." Cloud said. They all agreed and raced to the chamber.

Meanwhile, in a completely different area, Hades was talking to a lone figure, who looked hurt slightly.

"Sigh, this gets so boring, so let's skip the usual stuff, because I know your name, you know mine, yadda yadda. So here's the deal. I'll give you back your free will. No chains or anything. But you need to fight in the Underdrome tournament, and defeat everyone. Win again. Become champion twice. I can't see how that is possibly a loss in any way for you." Hades stated to the figure.

"But… they are… I can't…" The figure uttered, sounding weak and struggling to talk.

"Geeze, I hate doing this." He put a hand onto the figures shoulder and a red aura began draining from the man. "This is your last chance. You do this, or I will have your soul forever! Don't forget you are already technically dead. Now I will only ask one more time. Yes or no?"

The figure seemed to try and think quickly; knowing time was running out for him.

"Ok. You win. I'll… defeat them all. I promise. Just… promise me I can have my free will back."

"Of course. I stay true to my word, guaranteed." Hades produced a contract. "Sign here, please. In blood, preferably." He held the contract up for him to sign.

"A… Contract?"

"Hey, it's just business, kid. Now hurry up, I gotta get this show on the road."

The man used his nails to split his index finger open, before writing his name on the contract. Hades rolled the paper up and poofed it away.

"Ok, we're settled. A boat will arrive in a minute to take you to the Underdrome. From there, you will wait until you are called to fight. Ok? Now, I gotta get back to my business, so… Seeya!" And with that Hades disappeared in a flash of smoke.

The group arrived at the chambers, but found nothing.

"Dammit. We lost him. He's not here." Riku said, angry.

"Now Sora's gone and we have no idea where to look." Sophie added.

"Blaming me? Geeze, it's not like I wasn't looking for a fist in the face." Hades appeared in front of the crew. "As for where Sora is, I don't know. What I do know, however, is that I am here to commence the drawing for the Underdrome tournament! And of course, if Herc wants to avoid unnecessary consequences…" Referencing Meg, "…he'll compete. As will each and every one of you." Hades announced. The crew looked at each other and shrugged. "Ok, we're in." Riku said. "What are the rules?"

"2 members a team max. So you 4 gotta split. Also, no breaks in matches, if someone is hurt, they either continue regardless, or they leave their partner alone for the rest of the match. Finally, the match ends when someone is incapacitated, knocked out cold, or killed." Hades explained. "Personally, I'm hoping this year we get a few in the latter category." Cloud rolled his eyes at this. "Finally, if you are competing, you are only allowed near the arena when it is time for YOU to fight.

The 4 decided that Cloud and Auron would go better together, being that they were great swordsmen. Sophie decided to go it alone. Unfortunately, that left Riku and Hercules, and they didn't have much they could pair together. But still, they were all powerful warriors, and friendship as always would be their strongpoint.

After an hour of preparing, Hades brought the 4 to the leaderboard to see their standings.

They were:

Cloud & Auron

Vs

Fire Shower

Riku & Hercules

Vs

Clean Sweep

Sophie looked for her standing, and was confused to see what was written.

Sophie

Vs

Unknown

"Who am I facing?" Sophie asked. They all came close to see what she meant.

"Well, that's a shocker. Thought I had it all checked out or something…? Ah, what do I know? Any way, your first match is about to commence. So hop to it!"

Cloud & Auron made short work of their opponents, as did Riku & Herc, but they were only just small batches of Heartless. The next match had them wary about how Sophie would fare. Riku was also worried about Sora, so to calm Riku's nerves, Cloud and Auron both went looking for him while he and Herc fought, but Sora was nowhere to be found.

"I have a bad feeling about this…" Auron uttered as he looked across the lake towards the Underdrome, as Sophie sailed off to fight.

"So do I. But we're in this now, guess Sophie should just win this match, then we can concentrate on finding him." Cloud replied. Riku looked on, worried of what had happened to his friend.

Sophie arrived in the Underdrome and looked around. Not as spectacular as she had hoped. She looked up to see Hades sitting in a throne. 'Show-off.' she thought.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Boys and girls! Dead of all ages! It is time for our next bout! Standing to my right…" he stopped to whisper the next part "and hopefully the loser of this round…" then continued "is the lovely, Sophie!" He said, putting emphasis on the lovely.

'Heh, what does he think he's trying to do, win my heart? Sorry, but my heart has been frozen for a long time, and a sleaze like you isn't gonna heat it up anytime soon.' Sophie thought.

"And, in the left…" The gate to the left side of the arena opened. "The champion of champions…"

A figure was visible to Zoe…

"The only man here with the right to be called a true hero…."

Zoe froze in fear at the sight of who it was.

"The reigning Underdrome champion… SORA!!!"

She was so screwed.

She looked ahead, shocked at how Sora looked back at her with unemotional blood red eyes. She knew something was wrong. Hades had done something to him. But at the same time, she sensed something from inside him was assisting Hades in controlling Sora somehow. What could it be? She would need to work it out fast, as Sora drew his Keyblade.

"Get ready…" Sophie locked up her guns, knowing she couldn't risk killing Sora. She would have to fight hand-to-hand, and against Sora's swordplay with the Keyblade, she wouldn't last long.

"FIGHT!"

**End Chapter**

**Authors Note:** By now I expect only a few readers remain. But don't worry! Even though I now have a job (poor me ) I'm sure I can figure out something. I want to get at least another one out by Xmas, so I will try. No guarantees, but I will try.


	29. Chapter 28: The Tournament

**A/N:** 3 MONTHS! Jesus!

**Chapter 28: The Tournament**

Sora began to walk toward the center of the arena, constantly showing no emotion as he stared ahead at Sophie. She was still shocked at the situation.

'I have to do something. But what? I can't dodge this forever!' She looked around, mainly looking for ways of escape. She decided to do the unthinkable.

"Hey, Hades!" Sophie shouted. "I forfeit!"

There was a stunned silence for a few seconds, followed by laughter and booing and heckling. The dead may be just that; dead, but they sure got restless easily.

"Forfeit?!" Hades was laughing along with the crowd, but suddenly put up his arms and went an angry red. "SILENCE!" The dead went as silent as normal. Sora also stopped moving. "Let me lay down the line for you, little lady." He raised his arms up, calling up a great wall of fire around the arena. "You will both stay here until one of you can no longer fight, and NOT when you say you can't. You'll die if it's the only thing that'll stop you from fighting!" Hades sat down, cooling back into his normal blue. "You may continue."

Sora didn't hesitate after hearing that. He lunged at Sophie.

Meanwhile, at the other side of the River Styx…

"What's that?" Riku said as he sat up, looking at the fire that was rising out of the Underdrome.

"I think Hades is making sure the fight will have no cowards. Sophie might be in trouble." Hercules replied.

"Then let's go help her. But we're gonna need a boat…" The group looked around and saw a wooden boat similar to the one Sophie used to get to the Underdrome. The oars were lying on the boat as well.

"Come on, this can get us across!" Riku said.

Back at the Underdrome, Sophie was trying to avoid actual combat with Sora. She was dodging as much as possible, much to the chagrin of the crowd, but Sora was not letting up. She decided to stand her ground, get up close to Sora, and maybe talk some sense into him?

She took a stand, motioning for Sora to come get her. He took the bait as she put up her hands to block the Keyblade. They clashed together fiercely, Sophie struggling to hold against Sora. 'Some force is powering him. He is not this naturally strong against me.' She knew who to blame. 'Hades…'

"Sora, listen to me." Sophie whispered to Sora. "Whatever has happened to you, you have to break out of it, and now!"

Sora shoved her back, showing strain on his face. Was she getting through? Sora launched himself at her, trying to catch her off-guard unsuccessfully.

'Dammit Sora…'

She stood her ground, trying not to harm him. "Come on Sora, you have to be in there! What's he done to you?" Before she could say anything else, Sora gave her a hard shove. She wasn't pushed off her feet, but she stepped back a few inches, not expecting it. Sora took the chance and attempted to strike her, but again she was just too fast.

"Wake up, Sora!" She shouted at him. He gave her another hard shove, but couldn't get her to lose any ground this time. They both stopped and stared at each other. Stalemate. Sophie refused to hurt Sora, and Sora couldn't beat Sophie's defenses.

'Geeze, guess if you wanna heat up the fight… you gotta get underhanded.' He waved his hand in a single motion. A split second later, Sora slapped Sophie in the face. Hard. She fell to the ground in shock, holding her cheek, as the crowd went wild, cheering the move. But quickly, her look of shock turned to a look of anger. She stood up, and took out her magnum, and proceeded to smack Sora across the face with it. The silver that the gun was made of burned Sora's cheek, causing him to scream in agony, and Hades to look on in surprise. By now the crowd was going crazy, knowing it was, as they say, on.

'Man, now she is fired up! This is gonna be good!'

'Okay, so it's gonna be the hard way…'Sophie thought as she looked at her gun. 'Well, Hades did say incapacitation counts as a win…' she pulled the gun up and aimed for Sora's chest, away from the heart so as not to kill him. Sora saw her and dodged quickly as she fired. She followed Sora's movements and fired two more times, missing both times. 'I have 5 shots left. If I reload, Sora could kill me. But it doesn't matter. 5 shots are all I need!'

She rushed towards Sora, holstering her gun, and prepared to battle him. They collided full force causing them both to collapse onto the ground below. Both however quickly returned to their feet, but Sophie saw her chance and grabbed Sora in a grapple hold. She started to knee him in the chest, preventing him from mounting a proper defense. She also twisted his arm, causing him to drop the Keyblade. He tried to summon it in his other hand, but she reached for her gun. Sora, not wanting to get beaten, used his knee to get the gun out of her hand successfully, also causing the gun to go off in a random direction.

Sophie quickly regained the upper hand and forced Sora to the floor. She began to punch him in the face, her gauntlets hurting him every step of the way. While Sora was trying to defend himself, she jumped off him and reached for her gun. She successfully grabbed it, aimed and fired at Sora, but Sora got out of the way before the bullet could catch him, and continued to dodge as she fired another shot. Not wanting Sora to get away again, she lunged at him, chucking the gun at him to try and harm him with the silver. Sora twisted his body out of the way, but didn't realize that Sophie wasn't going for him that time…

…she was going for his GUNS, which were fully loaded.

Realizing this too late, she swiped the holsters right off his jacket and proceeded to use the guns while still holstered. Sora flung himself at the wall, and began to run alongside it as Sophie unloaded at him, while keeping her magnum under her foot. She didn't succeed, using up the ammo too quickly. Sora saw his chance and lunged at her. She used her foot to kick the magnum towards her hand and fired at Sora. This time she caught him in the foot, causing him to lose his balance and fall down to the ground in front of her. He screamed in pain.

"Come on, ya wimp!" Hades shouted at Sora. "Stand and fight! It's only a foot wound, you chicken!"

Sora, invigorated by Hades' words, swiped at Sophie, and caught the magnum's wooden stock. He swung around, and held it point blank at her head, also grabbing her by the neck with his other hand. The crowd went silent at this tense moment. Sophie was trapped.

"NOW!" Hades shouted. "Finish her!" The crowd began to chant 'Kill her!' to egg him on.

Back at the Styx, Riku and the gang were close to the Underdrome. So close, they heard the words 'Finish her' leave Hades mouth.

"That must be Sophie, she could be in trouble!"

"Row faster!" Hercules said, worrying as much as the others for their friend.

The crowd continued to chant 'Kill her!' as both combatants remained still. It was make or break for Sophie. She couldn't physically attempt to get out of this. Sora was too fast, she'd be dead before she even moved her head. All she could hope for was that some miracle… something, anything, came.

"Ok, kid, no more waiting!" Hades commanded. "Fire away, and end this day!" The crowd continued to chant. "People, people, please! Have some class. I think he needs silence for his encore."

The crowd did as told as they waited for the final gunshot to ring out.

But it never came.

Sora wasn't pulling the trigger for some reason. Sophie realized this, but hesitated to do anything, in case it was a trick.

Hades however was getting impatient.

"Hey!" he shouted. "I am not gonna wait forever!"

"Sora?" Riku called from the entrance, alongside his companions.

Sophie saw her chance. She smacked the magnum out of his hand and it flew upwards above them. Sophie immediately gave Sora a left hook, stunning him and giving her a chance to grab the gun. Everything became slow motion. 'I have only one shot! It has to count!' She grabbed the gun by the stock and prepared to aim at Sora-

-but a sudden, searing pain in her chest caused her to fire prematurely, dropping the gun immediately.

She heard a scream in the back, confirming she'd hit someone. She had her eyes shut as she winced in pain from whatever had hurt her. Maybe Sora had punched her in the gut or something, she didn't care. She looked up…

…And saw Riku bleeding from the stomach.

She had shot Riku. How could she have been so stupid?!

But that was not all. What had hurt her? And why did she still hurt? She tasted blood pouring from her mouth. She looked down.

Sora had impaled her with his Keyblade. She stared in shock.

Sora leaned close to her and whispered, "I'm sorry, but the will of my master is absolute."

He proceeded to yank the Keyblade out of her, and she fell to the ground dead.

The crowd went crazy. Hades was clapping as well. Cloud and Hercules stared on in shock, while Auron tended to an injured Riku.

"Bravo, bravo! What an outstanding performance! Give it up, for the champion, your champion, of the Underdrome! SORA!" Hades exclaimed to the Underdrome's watchers.

Sora's (former) companions could not believe what they had witnessed. They were too shocked to say anything as Sora stood up and raised his hand in victory, looking down at his defeated opponent emotionlessly.

"And what do we have here? Why, it's the other competitors!" The crowd booed them. "Well, you may have all broken the rules by coming here when you were not going to be fighting, but how could I disqualify anyone for coming to see such a spectacle? After all, they just witnessed the loss of two of- *ahem* sorry, ONE of their friends!" He motioned to Riku as he whispered to himself, "And looks like another one is up for the chop. Go figure, they're dropping like flies today." Hades teleported himself to the group. "So, err… looks like you'll be forfeiting this one, I mean, no-one expects you to fight like this, now do they? Ah… if only you had-"

"A substitute?" A familiar voice echoed throughout the entranceway. The figure emerged as Frank.

Hades looked on in surprise. "Wow, another one of you vamps. So, you wanna replace platinum locks here? I'd advise against it, the death rate of vampires around here is dangerous-"

"I want Sora in a fight, and I want him now." The crowd got behind this quickly, much to the chagrin of Hades.

"Alright, alright, fine, I'll let it slide, so long as you are the only competitor, got it? I ain't gonna be tricked into you teaming up with Herc the Jerk."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

**End Chapter**

**A/N:** Wow, I'm a vicious bastard, ain't I?


	30. Chapter 29: Retribution

**A/N:** I've found a way to push myself to get these battle scenes done: Listen to Iced Earth, Morbid Saint and Sabbat while you do them, makes ideas come out of your head quicker.

**Chapter 29: Retribution**

Frank stepped forward to the arena as Riku was led out by Cloud and Hercules. Sophie's body still lay in the center of the arena. Sora stood up, facing Frank with the same emotionless look he had faced Sophie with. Frank looked at his surroundings. A small circular arena. Simple enough. What caught his eye was the small statue Hades had next to him. It looked a little like Sora… It seemed important. But right now he didn't care.

"FIGHT!" Hades shouted. Barely a millisecond after that word left Hades mouth, Frank punched Sora in the face. Hard. Sora was sent flying a few feet from the force, but Frank caught him by the leg before he went downwards to the ground, and punched him into the ground himself. Frank pulled out his gun and aimed straight for Sora's head. Just a Sora got out of the way, Frank fired, missing him by a centimeter.

Hades was in shock. 'Wow, whoever this guy is, he's good. And it seems he has no inhibitions about killing someone. Maybe Sora isn't so great after all… hehehe…'

Frank grabbed Sora by the leg as he attempted to escape, and threw him up into the air. Sora summoned the Keyblade, but Frank grabbed it by the end and used it to slam Sora into the ground face-first. The crowd 'Oooohh!'ed at the impact.

Outside, Riku was being tended to by Cloud and Hercules. The bullet had pierced his stomach, and in his condition, he wasn't going to last long.

"Ungh… A Potion… I need one. And quick." Riku said as he coughed up blood.

"Forget Potions, Riku, you need a Hi-Potion." Hercules said as he laid him down on the cold stone ground. "Cloud, you go back to shore and get some Hi-Potions from Phil. E should have some. If not… I don't know what we'll do."

"Got it". Cloud jumped into the boat and began rowing, as Riku's life depended on it. As Hercules looked around, he realized that hey hadn't retrieved Sophie's body. He felt a pang of guilt.

"No matter what she was, no-one should lie dead without a grave." He murmured, as he looked towards the stadium.

Meanwhile Frank was putting the hurt on Sora. Hades watched from his throne, with little to no signs of emotion, happiness or sadness for what was going on, but inside, he was getting a lot of pleasure from watching Sora suffer some more.

Frank began to build up a red energy in his hand, crackling with lightning around it. The crowd went silent as the energy was clearly beginning to tear away at his hand. He grabbed Sora and stared into his eyes and saw fear. Fear that showed only in his eyes, nowhere else. He readied the energy. Even Hades was completely still at this point, anticipating the inevitable death that would follow. Frank closed the distance between them and whispered to Sora:

"You ever. And I mean EVER. Do that to her again, and I WILL kill you. I don't give a FUCK if you're being controlled by that bastard up there. Got me?" Sora nodded slightly.

Frank threw the red energy at Hades. The god was so shocked he didn't have time to react as it exploded, taking out a chunk of the Underdrome. Bits and pieces flew everywhere as the crowd was in shock. A small toy figure in the shape of Sora landed next to Frank's feet. He picked it up, and threw it into Sora's hands, upon which it dissipated into a small energy and floated into Sora. He had his free will back. He breathed a sigh of relief. As he looked up at Frank, the memories of what he had done came flooding back to him. He turned over and retched, eyes staring at the ground in shock.

As Frank walked toward Sophie's body, he uttered one more sentence; "I'll see you again soon, Sora, after you've had time to reflect on the events today." Frank picked up Sophie's body and walked away.

"Frank! You okay in there?" Hercules called out.

"Frank's gone, but I'm back to normal!" Sora called back. He looked up and saw Hercules climbing up on top of the rubble.

"That's good to hear. Now come on, we need your Hi-Potions before Riku bleeds to death!" Sora didn't need anymore reason than that.

Riku screamed in pain as Sora poured the Potion onto his chest.

"Dammit, Riku, hold still, I only have 2 left!" Sora said as he tried to smother the wound in the green liquid. The effects were beginning to take place, but Riku's constant thrashing meant it was still taking time. About a quarter hour later, Riku's wound was (mostly) sealed up from the outside.

"Drink this, Riku." Sora handed him the last Hi-Potion.

"Why do I need to drink it? What if it's disgusting?" Riku complained.

"Just shut up and drink it already. We don't have much time before Hades shows up again."

"Well you're the one that got me shot in the first place!" Riku shouted back. Sora turned around, disliking the reminder.

Riku realized he might have hurt him with that last one. "Sorry." Riku said as he took the Potion. He downed it as fast as he could. He immediately made a retching noise, but luckily didn't puke, but he did cough profusely afterwards.

"My god, it's horrific! Worst medicine ever!" He complained. Sora however was laughing.

"Well, that's what happens when you're mean to others!" Sora joked. Riku smirked and pounced him.

"Oh yeah? I'll make you eat those words- Ow, my stomach…" Riku howled as he accidentally forgot he was still healing. Luckily he was fine, just a bit of pain.

Cloud returned with Phil, holding a bag of Potions. They realized, however, that things were okay again.

"You gotta be kidding me! I got three words for you all: You owe me BIG!" Phil ranted, realizing that the emergency he had been talked about was not there anymore.

"Well, I'd keep them here. We may need them very soon…" Riku turned towards the stadium.

"Hades isn't gonna be too happy we're back in business. Guess we can spoil people's days like that can't we?" Sora said as he looked up at Riku.

"Well, we better get prepared. Can't just run in there." Riku said as he got up.

"Same as last time, right Hercules?" Sora asked.

"You know it." Herc replied.

The crew waited in the stadium, knowing that he'd eventually show up. By now, all the spirits had left, making the stadium vacant and tarnished by recent combat. It was only a short while before that it was in good condition.

Meanwhile…

Hades was back in his chambers, clearly rattled by the attack. The hooded man was also back.

"This is outrageous! How dare he attack me! You said he was of no danger!"

"But you broke his rule; you harmed the girl."

"So?" Hades shouted.

"So." The man grabbed Hades by the throat. Hades was shocked that the man was harming him so easily. "You dare to speak back to me as if you have done nothing wrong. But thanks to you, our plans have been set several stages back. We now have no choice but to wait, while those fools gain ground with every day of existence!" He threw Hades aside. As Hades caught himself and began to stand up again, the hooded man spoke again: "You know not of what you are dealing with here. My plan is far beyond what you can comprehend. And if it fails, I will hold you responsible." He walked off, and uttered a final order:

"Go and finish what you started. It would be wise to not fail us this time. Otherwise, this deal is over, and I am leaving. I will not tolerate another failure Hades. He walked off into the shadows of darkness.

Hades smashed a nearby table to vent his anger.

Back at the stadium, he crew waited anxiously for Hades to inevitably return. Eventually they were greeted by a small pillar of fire. Out of it came Hades.

"Y'know, let's cut to chase, because it's been a bad day. You want to get me, I want you dead. So." He conjures up fireballs. "Let's get to it." His body turned a demonic red.

"Like you have to ask!" The crew readied their weapons.

Herc readied his spheres of light. "Sora! Let's do it!" he called out to him. Hades was on to this and fired off at him, but Herc sacrificed one of the spheres to use as a shield. As Sora ran to Hercules, Riku and Cloud ran straight to Hades, intending to attack him head on. Not being experienced with him like Sora and Hercules were, however, they quickly realized that it was useless; all their attacks were just passing through him.

"Man, you guys are boring, let's move on." He brushed them aside (literally) with ease. He turned to Hercules and Sora. "Now this should be interesting." He got a big fireball ready to throw. Both Hercules and Sora jumped, Sora giving the light sphere a smack towards Hades. It hit its mark, knocking the momentum out of Hades. Now was the time to strike. The whole party went straight for Hades and pelted him with attacks.

Hades quickly got sick of this, and blew everyone back with anther pillar of fire. All four of them were caught off-guard by this, and thrown back by it. Hades then immediately took advantage of the situation and tried to force Hercules out of the stadium. He succeeded by grabbing Herc in midair and throwing him over the rubble. Now the crew had no way to attack. Hades went on the offensive, throwing fire at Riku and Cloud, pushing them back. Hades went for Sora.

"You have caused me trouble for the last time, you little brat!" He shouted, as he grabbed for Sora. Sora jumped out of the way, but Hades had a new trick up his sleeve. He summoned what appeared to be a long rope made of fire, and lassoed Sora's ankle with it. The flames caused Sora unbearable pain, causing him to scream and try fruitlessly to get it off with his hands. Cloud jumped up and used his sword to cut the rope, only to be swiped in the face by it.

Riku the only one standing went in for a distraction to allow Cloud and Sora to recover, but Hades swatted him away again pretty quickly after he got bored. Sora rose to his feet first.

"This is useless! We can't harm him like this!" Sora proclaimed as his friends got up.

"Wish Herc would hurry up and get back here."

"Ha-ha! Looks like you guys are really relying on that fourth leg of yours. Too bad he's taking a nap at the moment! Why don't you guys just give it up?"

"Because their will is too strong. You will lose this fight Hades, as I predicted you would."

Sora and the group looked for the source, but Hades looked angered and knew who it was.

"Aahh, not you again! I have this covered, are you really that worried I'll not succeed?" Hades called out to the voice. The party was stunned to learn that Hades had an accomplice.

Out of the shadows appeared a hooded man. He drew back his hood to reveal a teenage-looking boy with a strange tribal marking on the left side of his face.

"I will take over from here, Hades. You've caused enough trouble." He made a motion with his hand and Hades was swept aside. The man then turned to Sora and his crew.

"My name is Brody. And I will truly test your will, Sora." The man said to Sora. Riku and Cloud stepped in front of Sora, but suddenly had their bodies restrained in mid-air by an invisible force.

"He must have psychic powers!" Riku called out to Sora.

"Now that the distractions have ceased, we may begin." Brody focused on Sora. Sora began to feel a splitting headache coming on, but could not do anything to stop it. He fell to his knees as his eyes lost their colour slightly, appearing diluted, no longer moving.

"This will be an… interesting experiment, to say the least." Brody uttered as he entered Sora's mind.

**Chapter End**


	31. Chapter 30: What's Real And A Dream

**Chapter 30: What's Real and a Dream**

Sora suddenly felt the pain stop. He opened his eyes to check what had happened, only to find that he was… home?

"The hell?" Sora said. He got up and looked around. He was in his own bedroom. Nothing was out of place; it was all as he remembered it. Had it really all been just a dream?

The realization caused to laugh a little. "Whoa, that was a REALLY weird dream. He checked himself over. No scars, no new clothes from Frank, nothing from the dream as far as he could see and he was still wearing his PJ's. "Wait… my fangs, my face. The mirror is in the bathroom." He slowly walked to the bathroom, but as he did, he began to realize just how quiet it was. Now Destiny Islands was never this quiet. Sure it was small, but it was bustling with life usually… Sora began to get suspicious. He entered the bathroom to find something he didn't expect…

The mirror was missing, screws and all. Someone had taken the whole thing off and not even bothered to cover the holes. Now things were getting pretty weird. He thought to call out to Riku, but wondered if he might be out somewhere.

"Riku! Where's the bathroom mirror?" He called out to the house. No reply. "Riku?" he called out again. Still no reply. Now Sora was a little afraid. No sound at all from anywhere? He decided to check outside. He put on his normal clothes and walked to the door, only to receive an even bigger shock. It wasn't there. At all. Just a thick wall where the door once stood.

"Okay… this is weird… what the hell is going on?" He ran to the kitchen to find the back door. That was gone too. He looked around himself and finally noticed all the windows were gone too. Nothing. It was like he had been walled in overnight. "Wait! The balcony in my room!" He ran back up to his room and saw the curtains closed. "Well, at least I can get out…" He drew the curtains and saw… nothing but darkness? There was nothing but darkness behind the window. Not even a distinct shape. Just black. "Okay, I must still be dreaming. A second dream or something. I need to wake up. Water might do the trick…" He went back to the bathroom and looked again at the spot where the mirror used to be. He walked over to the sink and turned on the taps. He closed his eyes trying to calm himself down as he splashed the water on himself. But when he licked it off his lips, he found it to taste weird. He opened his eyes to see that it wasn't water that was coming out of the taps…. It was blood.

Sora immediately looked up and saw not only the mirror had returned, but his face was tined red from the blood, and his eyes were the same color. Blood red. It wasn't a dream. He screamed at the top of his lungs as he grabbed a towel and wiped the blood off as fast as he could. After getting it all off, he looked back at the mirror and saw he was now dressed up in his new clothes again, and his fangs had returned. It DEFINTELY wasn't a dream. He looked down on himself to check nothing else had changed, until suddenly he heard himself speak.

"What's wrong?" Sora looked up and saw his mirror image was moving of its own volition. "Can't face up to what you are?" Suddenly the other him launched out of the mirror and grabbed Sora by the throat. Sora only felt mild pain, being that he didn't need to breathe. "Can't stand what you've become?" The fake Sora punched the real Sora in the face. He began to shout his words. "Can't stand the sight of yourself?! That you're a freak, an abomination!?"

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" Sora screamed. He used all his strength to throw his doppelganger off himself. He immediately got up and readied his Keyblade, only to discover that the other him was gone. After catching his breath, he ran for his room and closed the door behind him. He sat down on the floor, back against the door, thinking about what had just happened.

"This is crazy… How can all of this be possible? Just where the hell am I?!" Sora asked no-one in particular. He looked up at the window, staring into the darkness that was ahead of him, blocking what seemed to be his only way out. He began to think back to what happened in the Underdrome, but for some reason his head was drawing a blank. He could barely recall a battle with Hades, but not the outcome. What happened? Did he lose? Was he in purgatory or something?

"I have to get out of here… Guess there can't be any harm in trying the balcony door, right?" He walked up to the door and slowly put his hand on the door handle. Just before he turned the handle, however, a loud bang from the other side shocked him and he fell backwards. He quickly looked up to see that the bang was caused by the fake him, only now dressed in slightly different clothing, wearing a black long sleeved shirt and black trousers with several tight short belts and buckles wrapped around them His wrists were bound to an unknown place with chains, faraway enough so that he could move around.

"What's the matter? You afraid of your own true colors?" Fake Sora said. As he smiled, the darkness surrounding him began to glow with yellow dots in many places. They meant only one thing to Sora. _Heartless._ He readied his Keyblade.

"These Heartless are all that understand you, Sora. They have spent years watching you. Studying you. They have been watching you from your own shadow every day you walk on land. They know you better than you know yourself, Sora."

"What the hell do you want? And where the hell am I?" Sora demanded.

"My name… is Aros, or Anti. Anti-what, exactly? Who knows? You might call me Anti-Sora, after all, I am you in many senses of the meaning, but unlike you, I accept what I am, and I deny that which would seek to control me." Aros uttered as he pointed to the Keyblade.

"The Keyblade? What are you talking about?"

"You believe the Keyblade is bound to you, and your destiny, whatever that may be. But you do not look past the lie to see that it is really you, who is bound to the Keyblade." Sora looked down at the Keyblade, pondering these words. "Think about it. Where would you be if you didn't have that Keyblade? You'd probably be sitting back home on Destiny Islands twiddling your thumbs with your stupid friends while some other kid got to save the worlds."

"And your point is?"

"Without that Keyblade, you're… just you. You're not a hero. You're not a powerful warrior. You're just a kid with a fantasy in his head."

"That's nonsense. Why wouldn't I be in control? The Keyblade chose me!"

"Very true. It chose YOU. Not the other way around. And it can abandon you whenever IT wants to. Think about it. When you became one with the night, you lost control of the Keyblade, didn't you?"

"I was able to get it back!"

"After you got down on your knees and begged it to come back."

"That's crap! I had to fight to get it ba-" Sora stopped mid-sentence, knowing that he had just proven Aros' point.

"You should take a good, long look in the mirror. If your fight is to vanquish the world of darkness, then you have already lost. You are consumed by it, but still you fight it. I am just like you, but I don't fight what I am…" Sora looked in horror as Aros' skin turned jet black and his eyes began to glow a bright golden colour. "I accept my powers, and now you will, too." And with those words, Aros disappeared, and so did the glowing eyes of the Heartless, once again leaving only darkness. Sora readied himself for an attack. He didn't want to get caught off-guard again like he did in the bathroom.

But no attack ever came. For a few minutes, Sora stayed alert, but after a while he finally realized Aros wasn't coming. He sat down on the bed and contemplated what to do next.

"I need to get out of here before I get killed." Sora proceeded to the door leading to the hallway, and slowly opened it. He checked to make sure he was alone before proceeding downstairs back to where the main door used to be and began to look for a way out. First thing he tried was pressing on the walls, hoping for a secret passage, but he wasn't having any luck. He checked all the floors on the upper floors as well, but found nothing. The strange thing was, Aros hadn't returned yet either.

As Sora roamed around the kitchen checking for the back door, he noticed a door he hadn't seen before. It was completely white, save for the roman numerals XIII written in black on the door. "13? What does that mean?" He approached the door and began to turn the doorknob. As he opened the door, a blinding light overcame him.

He opened his eyes to notice he was in a familiar hallway, but now from his house. He couldn't quite remember where he had seen this place before. He turned around the rest of the hallway overcome by darkness, overflowing with it. As he followed the path, he reached the very top of the building, realizing he was inside The Castle That Never Was. Or at least, the top part of it. All around it was complete black, nothingness, not even an indication of where the rest of the castle was. It just sort of ended.

As he looked around, a sudden burst of light came from in front of him. A path appeared extending out from the flat circular roof he stood on. Deciding to proceed, he followed the path until it led to two doors. The door to the left was adorned with two large locks. One flowing with darkness, the other flowing with light. To his right was the same door that brought him here, adorned with the roman numerals XIII again. This time, however, the door had the Nobody symbol on it.

Sora was about to try to summon the Keyblade to open the left door, but a voice he sensed was familiar to him called out to him.

"You really think that's a wise choice?"

He scanned around behind him for the source of the voice. Nothing.

"You don't yet have the power to open this door, nor do you have the right."

Sora turned back to the door to find a familiar face standing in front of him. Roxas. He jumped back in surprise, Roxas smiling at him and waving his hand.

"Roxas? What the hell? What are you doing here?"

"Jeeze, you're really slow. This is your heart. Everything you see is what I guess you would call a visual representation of what is going on inside you, and it's not good."

"I… don't understand."

"When I was finally reconnected with you, I got a little bored, so I used what little power I had at the time to decorate the place. Nothing harmful, just wanted to not be so bored all the time sitting here watching you kick butt."

"So that's why this place is like the castle from the world of darkness…"

"Right. But unfortunately, the peace didn't last long. Something weird began to happen when you re-awoke and started fighting the Nobodies and Heartless. Darkness started spreading in your heart, and I couldn't fight it. I did manage to find a way to 'borrow' some of your power, but it wasn't enough. It did quiet down after you finished Xemnas, and it even began to retreat, but then when you got bitten, it just spiked fiercely. It went from having the entryway, to nearly having the entire castle. And because I had borrowed your power, it limited your ability to fight back."

"So that's why I couldn't get the Keyblade back?" Sora realized.

"Well I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised. Follow me." Roxas grabbed Sora's hand and led him back to the darkness protruding from the hallway.

"Hey Roxas, do you know who Aros is?" Sora asked Roxas as they stood in front of the darkness.

"So that's what he likes to call himself now, huh? Yeah, that is his name. Or at lest, he tells you that. I don't know for sure. Told me his name was Anti-Sora, but I thought it sounded pretty ridiculous for a name, even for a being that shouldn't exist."

"You can talk, Nobody." An evil voice echoed from the hallway. Out of the darkness came Aros, still blinded by chains to something not seen by Sora or Roxas. "A being that shouldn't exist, huh Roxas? Take a look in the mirror. Oh wait, you can't."

"You and I are different, Anti, or Aros, whatever. I was created because Sora gave his heart so save Kairi. You were created by accident." Hearing these comments, Aros just laughed, which creeped Sora out.

"Hey Sora, can you believe this guy? Breaking news, Roxas, we were BOTH created by accident! Since when did you have any part in saving that girl? Sora never even knew of your existence until it already died!"

"Shut up." Roxas muttered.

"Come to think of it, the only people who ever cared about you were some digitized copies of real people and a backstabber!"

Roxas summoned his keyblades. "Shut up!" He shouted.

"What are you gonna do, hurt me? Look at them; they aren't even a shell of their real selves!" Aros was right. Sora looked at Roxas' keyblades and noticed they were fading away already. A few seconds later, they disappeared completely. Roxas didn't appear fazed, as if this had happened before. Seeing his opportunity, Aros jumped at Sora, but with just a millimeter of distance between them, the chains Aros were bound to pulled him back and into the air, pulling his limbs in different directions. As they got tighter, Aros smiled as he made grunting noises, signaling he was in pain. He looked at Sora. "I thrive on pain Sora… and this was so much sweeter than the number of times he has tried to hurt me." He turned to Roxas. "You see that? I was about to get him there! I could never get close to you, but now you're both weak. I'm winning this fight. YOU HEAR ME? THIS HEART IS MINE!"

Suddenly, Aros screamed in pain as he was electrocuted by an unknown force that didn't come from Roxas or Sora.

"That's enough, you three." Sora turned around to see the man standing behind them. Suddenly he remembered what had happened before he blacked out. Before him was the one who had done it.

"Brody!" Sora summoned his Keyblade.

"I'm afraid I must bring this little experiment to an end, Sora. But in case you are curious, you passed with flying colors."

"Huh?"

"Sayonara." And with that, Brody jumped off the edge of the walkway, into the darkness. Roxas and Sora ran over to the edge to see where he had gone but he was no-where to be seen.

Aros sniggered. "That bastard… interfering with my business… Sora, you better not let those guys win. I'll be sure to have fun with your friends if you fail."

"I won't fail!" Sora turned around and pointed his Keyblade at Aros. "And you'll never hurt my friends!"

"Hmph… we'll soon see…" A bright light enveloped Sora and he blacked out.

"Sora, wake up!" Riku called to him.

"Wha?" Sora opened his eyes to see that he was back on the Gummi Ship. "What happened?"

"After that Brody guy hurt you, you just passed out. Then he disappeared and out bonds were released, so we took you back to the ship. Herc's back at his home." Sora sat up. "I think that we have stuff to do, right?" He asked Sora, knowing it was a rhetorical question.

"Yeah, I guess we do. Better get moving then." Sora hopped up to the controls. "A lot of work ahead of us."

**Chapter End**

**A/N:** Finally! That one took a little while and about 3 writers blocks. Sorry for the mean wait.


	32. Chapter 31: Bloodlust

**Chapter 31: ****Bloodlust**

The group was planning their next move. Following their battle at Olympus Coliseum, more worlds had opened their paths up, including some new ones that Sora did not recognize.

"So Halloween Town is the only one you know well enough?" Riku asked.

"Yeah, I mean I have been to that one over there…" Sora said, pointing towards two other worlds that were in the other direction of where they were headed, "But it's been a little while longer than since I was last at Halloween Town. Since around the time our journey began".*

"So, Halloween Town it is then." Sora said. As he walked towards the controls however, he felt a wave of dizziness overcome him. He fell to his knees as he clutched his head, feeling his body go numb. A slow but heavy pounding noise began in his head as his fangs elongated to about double their length, forcing him to keep his mouth open. Riku saw Sora in pain and got up to go over to check on him, but Sora put his hand out behind him to stop him.

"S-Stay back… Ungh…" Sora curled up and clutched his head with both his hands. The sound of Riku moving behind him, worried, was becoming drowned out by the loud pounding noise of their heartbeats.

He wished to end it. He only wanted it to stop. He found himself slowly lifting himself up from the floor, using the pilot chair as support. Cloud could immediately tell Sora had a bad aura around him, so he readied himself.

"Riku, get back!" Cloud shouted, but before Riku could react, Sora spun around and lunged at his throat, baring his fangs.

"Sora isn't here anymore." A dark aura surrounded him as his clothed changed to black long-sleeved shirt and trousers, with several black buckles and short belts wrapped tightly around them as Aros took control. Riku also noticed his eyes were glowing a gold colour, but still had the red of bloodlust in them. "Now you're mine." Just as he was about to bite down on Riku's neck, Cloud grabbed him by the arms and yanked him off of Riku. He tried to control him, but Aros was too strong and elbowed Cloud in the nose, drawing blood and causing them both to fall to the floor. Seeing the blood, he sickeningly wiped the blood off of Cloud's upper lip and then licked it off his fingers while smiling at Cloud. Cloud regained his composure and pushed Aros away as he grabbed his sword, but Riku stopped him.

"No! The real Sora must still be in there, we can't kill him." Cloud let go of his sword. Aros smiled at them devilishly.

"Felling a little tied up with your options, pretty-boy? Looks like I am in control." Aros gathered up a ball of dark energy in his hand. "Now you'll do as I say, or else…" He held the sphere of darkness up to his own head. "Sora dies." He paused for a few seconds. "Turn this ship around. Now." Riku sat in the pilot seat and took hold of the steering wheel, but hesitated. Could he really give in this easy? He was going to just let this creature of darkness win that fast?

Getting impatient, Aros said "Hurry up, pretty-boy, we haven't got all day. Don't you want to see your friend again?" That struck a chord with Riku, as he launched out of the chair and grabbed Aros' hand, pushing it out of the way as he fired it at himself, but missed and it hit the controls, frying them. As Aros fell to the ground under Riku's grasp, the ship gave off a siren, indicating that it was going down. The ship rocketed to one side, pushing Riku off of Aros and throwing Cloud to the wall, knocking him senseless.

Riku looked around to locate Aros, but he was gone. He decided he needed to find some sort of emergency teleport or pod so he and the others could escape. He grabbed Cloud as the ship began to tilt to the other side, wanting to reach the entry room before it tilted too far. Luckily however the ship managed to level itself out a little bit, allowing Riku (with Cloud in tow) to get to the back of the ship.

Much to their chagrin, there was no emergency way out. Just the regular teleporters, and to use them they required the ship to be still. He decided to tend to Cloud and find a sturdy place to hide in some vain hope that wherever they crashed (if they didn't explode first) wouldn't kill them.

Before he could begin looking though, he was attacked from behind by Aros, who pushed him to the ground. Riku quickly tried to summon his keyblade, but Aros grabbed his arm and kneed him hard between the shoulder and elbow, breaking it. Riku screamed out in pain as Aros dropped his arm and grabbed him by the head.

"I just wanted to let you know, before we all die, I'm gonna enjoy devouring your heart Riku." Aros said as he slowly moved his hands all over Riku, causing him to panic. "And your body."

"You… you're sick! Are you getting some sort of pleasure out of this? You're going to die too!"

"Well I'm very aware of that fact, but why shouldn't I have a little fun beforehand?" He began taking Riku's coat off, but Riku struggled. Aros responded by casting a spell on him that rendered him unable to move.

"Just stop fighting it Riku. You're mine now."

"Think again, creature." Someone said as from out of nowhere, a long whip wrapped itself around Aros neck and tightened, the end (which was wrapped around Aros neck) fused into a leash of some sort. Aros was pulled backwards hard by the holder of the other end, Frank.

"F-Frank!" Riku shouted.

"There is no time for greetings. Come on, we need to get out, now." He picked up Cloud and helped Riku up. He led them to a portal he had created nearby and after yanking on Aros' leash, they passed through to his home.

A few seconds later the Gummi exploded.

**Later…**

"For the fifth time, Riku, stop moving. I can't examine the damage if you keep moving." Frank uttered as he passed a scanning device over Riku's broken arm.

"What is there to examine? My arm is broken!" Riku shouted at Frank as another wave of pain shot through his arm.

"Because I need to locate the exact point where it's broken before I can try to mend it. Now sit still or I will magically bond you to the chair."

"I'd rather you just stop moving my arm so violently. If you were a little calmer with it, I wouldn't be thrashing about so much."

"Sure you would." Riku finally settled enough for Frank to get a clear reading of the damage.

"Well, he shattered your bone, Riku. It's gonna take a LONG time for it to heal, two months at least even with the best surgery, which I luckily have."

"Hang on a second. What about a Potion? They healed up my stomach when I was shot."

"That was different. Stomach lining cells are much thinner than solid bone. And besides, your stomach hasn't fully healed yet. If you thought you were fine to fight, then you were wrong. All the potion did was help the cells naturally heal by neutralizing your stomach acid. If you had fought more prominently against Hades, you would have ruptured your stomach again and died."

Riku went wide-eyed at that. His fighting arm was useless. He could no longer protect his friends. He started to weep as he realised he would have to go home and leave Sora to the fighting all alone. **

Frank walked to the corner of the room. "You still wanna protect Sora, don't you?" He looked back to see Riku silently crying. He tossed a key to him, landing on his chest. He picked it up with his good hand.

"Meet me outside in two hours." Frank uttered. He tossed Riku a sling for his arm as he walked away.

Riku was irate. "A sling? How is that gonna help me! I need treatment for this and I need it now! That bastard!"

**Elsewhere in the building…**

Cloud sat in the living room with his sword, thinking silently.

'In one fell swoop, the darkness in Sora's heart has crippled us. Riku will be out, and Sora has been completely taken over by the darkness. I am confident in my abilities, but alone I will surely fail.' He looked at himself in a mirror from across the room. In his mind, the reflection changed to that of Sephiroth. 'Sephiroth… You will never defeat me… When we next battle, I will be victorious. Then… I will finally…' His thoughts were interrupted by someone entering the room. Rather, two people. Two familiar faces.

Cloud looked up. "Victor… Kaine… What are you doing here?"

"Frank called us, said you might need some help. So we will be joining you on your journey to vanquish the evil that lies before you." Victor replied.

"There is a bit of a problem with that, however, as Riku-" Kaine put up a hand to silence him.

"We are aware that currently you are the only one in a state to fight. But you needn't worry. Alucard is with us, and he plans to bring Sora back in control of things." Kaine explained.

"You think he can defeat the darkness roaming in Sora's body?"

"Defeat it? No. That is something only Sora can do. Restrain it? Possibly. We can only hope." Victor replied.

"Do not worry, my son." Alucard uttered as he appeared behind them. "I will certainly show this darkness the light that our Keyblade Master friend possesses."

Aros sat in a dark room, silver chains binding him to the walls. If he tried to get them off, his clothes would rip, exposing him to the silver, so he was contempt to sit there for now. But he sensed a presence coming towards him and he smiled. Standing before him was not Alucard however. It was Sophie.

"So you are possessed." She uttered. "It isn't hard to guess that you helped Hades get leverage on Sora, but yet you did not take full control like you have now. Why?"

Aros just smiled an evil smile at her. "So you won't talk, huh?" His expression remained. She turned to leave.

"Deception." Aros uttered. Sophie turned back around. "You may ask away Sophie. Ask as many questions as you like. But I will not answer a single one. But I will tell you this. I am opposite to Sora in every way possible. Especially the innocent part." Aros licked his lips and smiled at her. Disgusted by Aros, she turned to leave. As she opened the door, Aros spoke again. "On your way out, could you tighten these chains a little? They're not tight enough." Realizing what he was insinuating, she left in a hurry to get away from him. ***

"I'll take that as a no."

**Chapter End**

**A/N:** Sorry for the chapter being so short.

_*When Kingdom Hearts 1 began, not this story._

_**In my story, magical items and magic like Cure and Potions can only cure magical ailments__ (and certain physical ailments), as in Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2, Sora/Goofy/Donald were never physically injured too seriously._

_***!ADULTS ONLY! Aros has a bondage fetish. Like it has been said, he is the complete opposite of Sora. Thus, he is in no way as 'innocent' as Sora is, and unlike Sora, is open about his feelings… When he wishes to._


	33. Chapter 32: Further Preparation

**Chapter 32: Further Preparation**

Aros had been staring into space for a while now, bored out of his mind, the empty bleak room offering him no excitement.

'You would think they would send someone to keep an eye on me… Makes it more fun when I can talk to someone.' He continued to smirk a little though, knowing that he had Sora under his control…

…At least, for now.

Back in the living room, Kaine and Victor were relaying info to Cloud about what had been happening on their world after they had left.

"Right after you guys left," Kaine began. "Vampire activity spiked. Bodies began to pile up on our doorsteps. The government is covering it up as best they can under the guise of a big rise in criminal activity, but I doubt it'll last that long before either we are discovered by the common folk, or worse…"

Victor continued "The point is, there is no point in us 2 hanging around when Alucard will probably just be able to handle things himself without us. That is why we plan on joining you for this little road trip."

Cloud replied, "Well, any help is always welcome, but I think any chances of completing our journey is impossible now. Riku is injured, and Sora… Well you know already."

"Don't worry. Give it a day or two, and both those problems will be gone."

"A day or two? Your optimism isn't shared by me. Even if you somehow get Sora back, Riku will be out for a month minimum."

Victor stood up and walked out of the room, saying "Do not worry. I'll show you."

Alucard walked slowly towards the prison cell that contained Aros. He stood outside, looking in towards an already aware Aros, with a wide smile on his face.

"Ahh… Alucard, the great vampire himself, we meet at last." Aros slowly stood up. "Same old song and dance, I assume?"

"Aros. You are a mysterious creature indeed" Alucard began as he paced slowly in the room. "Who would suspect our good friend Sora, who from appearances seems to house only light, could contain within him something so impure, so tainted with darkness. Is anarchy really all you seek? Or is there something else you want from all this?" Alucard paused for a second to look at Aros clearly. "Not that I expect you to answer any of my questions." Alucard removed his coat. "So let us proceed with what I've come here for." Alucard drew his pistols.

Aros leaned forward, his grin growing wider. "Yes! That's it! Come at me! A fighter with no remorse for anything!" Aros began to glow with a pitch black aura. He strained against his chains, breaking them after a few seconds of struggling.

Alucard stood his ground, not moving an inch. "Despicable. You would willingly injure your host just to fight me?" Alucard uttered slowly, referring to the burns Aros was receiving from the silver chains that had ripped through his clothing.

"I am the most powerful being alive! You think some petty chains will stop me? I'LL SHOW YOU!" Aros focused all his energy into a powerful blast, shattering the chains and sending the debris towards Alucard. With what appeared to be a simple hand gesture, Alucard deflected the fragments to the wall, where they harmlessly bounced off and fell to the ground. Wasting no time, Aros, now fully transformed into his Heartless state, lunged towards Alucard, aiming for the throat.

"A common mistake."

The next few seconds were a blur to anyone else, as with impeccable speed Aros continued to swipe and claw at Alucard, while the other simply just dodged and didn't even fire a single bullet. After about half a minute of this, Aros was getting impatient.

"Come on, fight me! Or do you fear my power?" Aros shouted as they stopped for a few seconds, Aros never taking his eyes off Alucard.

"Please allow me to apologize, I wished to assess your power before our battle truly began."

"And?"

"And I have reached my assessment. You have much energy. Such is expected of the body of the Keyblade Master. But you…" Alucard tossed his guns to the ground.

"You are weak. You rely heavily on the powers dormant in your host, but are unable to fully comprehend them. A lot of smoke, but no fire."

"How dare you! You call me worthless and treat me like I am inferior to you? I WILL BE MORE POWERFUL THAT YOU CAN EVER IMAGINE!" Aros black aura flared so powerfully that it filled the cell with its bleakness.

"In that case, I will allow you what you desire." Alucard picked up his black white pistol, turning the handle of the black one towards Aros and leaving it on the ground. He emptied the clip of the white one and replaced the ammo with a single bullet, before inserting the clip back into the gun. "You may take it if you desire."

Aros smiled. "You are giving me one of your guns? This will be the undoing of you, Alucard." Aros picked up the gun and checked its ammo. It was fully loaded. "With this device my victory is secured!"

Alucard suddenly flashed out of sight, causing Aros to spring into action. Like before, they began circling the room, Aros trying to get a steady aim on Alucard. He kept firing at Alucard, but none of his bullets seemed to hit. All the while, Alucard was once again refusing to attack Aros; he just kept dodging all the bullets. 'Damn it! I have to change my tactics or I'm gonna lose it over this guy!' Aros thought as he suddenly changed direction, attempting to crash right into Alucard, but he easily dodged this as Aros fired yet more bullets at nothing. Suddenly, he pulled a move Alucard was not expecting, he stopped in the middle of the room.

'Now I see… By making himself an open target, he wishes me to shoot my one bullet at him, and then he will take his chance.' Alucard stopped also, surprising Aros but not enough to break his composure. They both took aim at one another. Not one to hesitate, Aros quickly began to unload what he had left into Alucard, who simply stood there and took it. Aros continued firing until the gun jammed, one bullet left to go.

"Gotcha." Aros smirked, looking at the blood-soaked body that lent against the wall.

Alucard suddenly raised his gun and aimed down the barrel of Aros' gun.

"Gotcha." He pulled the trigger. The bullet went straight through the black pistol, destroying it before piercing Aros in the chest, the bullet lodging itself right on his heart. The shockwaves sent Aros flying back into the opposite wall, crying in pain.

"Grragh! What have you done to me? Hnngh!" Aros grunted as his black aura evaporated. He convulsed over and over, being in incredible pain.

"The bullet inside you is a very special one indeed. While it will not kill you, it will suppress your negative energies from taking control, unless Sora allows it from now on. The bullets you fired at me were all cheap, standard non-silver bullets. Not worth the brass they're made of." Aros looked up to see a clear lack of bullet-holes in Alucard, as f he had never been shot.

"As I told you before, you are pathetic. Alone you have fallen." Alucard picked up his black pistol, correcting the jammed bullet and then reloading it. "Alone you shall remain."

"This isn't the end of me! I'll be back, you hear me!? I'll-" A gunshot rang out as Alucard shot Aros in the head with a non-silver bullet. Aros' clothes evaporated to reveal Sora's slightly tattered ones, telling Alucard that Sora was back to normal.

"It is done."

**An hour later…**

Riku waited by the front door, arm in sling, for Frank to appear, or for something to happen, but nothing did.

'What the hell am I doing out here? Frank obviously sent me out here just to make me look like a fool, and I remember him saying once to not go outside… Is he trying to get me killed, or scared?' Riku thought.

As Riku turned towards the door, he heard movement behind him. He turned his head just in time to see a demonic figure lunge at him, which he dodged just in time. "What the hell?" The specter swiped at Riku, forcing him to jump back, but he lost his balance upon landing and fell to the floor. Scrambling to his feet, he tried to think of a way of circling around the thing, but it would not move from the door. Seeing another attack coming, Riku decided to try calling his blade to his good arm, and succeeded in blocking the attack at first, but the enemy proved to be too strong for Riku's untrained arm and was pushed back to the floor. The enemy then took hold of the Keyblade and flung it to one side, unarming Riku and leaving him defenseless.

The demon's attack was, however, cut short by a sword cutting though it's body, not killing it but frightening it off.

"You have much to learn, Riku." The voice (and the blade) came from Sophie, who was standing over Riku. Riku attempted to get up, but was forced down by Sophie's boot, taking care not to step on his broken arm.

"Hey, get off me! I can't get up!"

"If you want to get up, you'll have to get me off yourself. No point letting you up if you can't even defeat a simple demon of the dead, a memory of something lost."

"I'll make you regret those words!" Riku summoned his Keyblade and was about to swipe at Sophie's leg, but his slow speed allowed Sophie to simply punch the Keyblade out of his hands. Riku, not one to give up, tried the same thing again, but this time Sophie seconded her counter by punching Riku in the face. "Are you getting a laugh out of embarrassing me, Sophie? Enough with this! Let me up!" Riku shouted.

Much to his surprise, Sophie let her foot off of Riku. Riku was cautious at first, suspecting a trap, but eventually got back up.

"I am not joking around Riku. We are both out here because you need training, and fast. Right now you are as weak as can be, and I intend to put you on the fast track to becoming even more powerful than you once were."

Riku looked around. "Ok, but why the wilderness? Didn't Frank explicitly tell me and the others not to venture out here?"

"Indeed I did, and believe me, there is a very real danger of being out here. The more we linger, the more likely we are to attract the wrong sort of attention. There are far worse things than vampires and heartless lurking out here. Rest assured, if you know what's good for you, you won't waste my time out here, so there will be rules, and you will follow them to the point, or I will leave you out here to die in an emergency." Riku nodded and listened to these rules.

"Rule 1: At all times, when we are fighting each other, you must come at me with intent to kill. I will not accept anything less."

"Rule 2: Unless I explicitly say so, you will not, under any circumstances, attempt to re-enter the mansion, even if we are attacked. When things follow you out here, they never stop unless you put them down for good, or you put the fear of god into them."

"Now that I have given you these two rules, let us begin. The first test is a test of endurance. The aim is simple: you must strike me. I will not make any attempts to harm you unless you are attacking me."

Sophie shifted her poise, readying herself for Riku's attack.

"You may begin when you are ready."

For the next few minutes, Riku made several attempts to strike Sophie, but could not hit her. His untrained arm was just too slow and she was easily countering his every move. After a while, Riku was gasping for breath.

"God… Dammit… This is too much…" Riku panted in-between breaths.

"This is barely anything Riku. I intend to keep this up for as long as takes to get you into fighting shape." She waited for Riku to catch his breath. " The enemies you have will not give you a chance to have a tea break in-between fights, Riku. Continue fighting, now."

"Hold on a second… I never asked this, but, I thought you were dead?"

"Of course I wasn't dead. Like I'm gonna let a stab wound kill me... I'm a vampire, remember Riku?"

"You sure seemed dead to me…"

"Worried about Sora suffering something similar?" Riku froze. Sophie walked up to him. "You are very tense Riku, but you needn't be so nervous. If you fear death, it will come for you and Sora all the more quicker. I know you've been through a lot in your recent years, but you must learn not to let your worry be so controlling. Let it all go." She stepped back and took her fighting stance again.

"Now, enough talking. Come at me."

**A few days later, the group is training in different areas of the mansion…**

"Yaah!" Kaine jumped at Victor, brandishing his Keyblade. The two were training outside the mansion, but a little closer to the wilderness than anyone else. Victor jumped up high, grasping on to the edge of the mansion roof, before they both jumped at each other, Keyblades clashing in mid-air high above the ground below them. Rather than fall back to the ground, they began swinging fiercely at each other, barely moving in mid-air. Eventually Victor got the upper hand forced Kaine back, only to have Kaine come flying right back at him.

Riku was also still training with Sophie, the last few days having allowed him to get better with using his weak arm to fight. While still not on the level he used to be, secretly Sophie was firm in her belief that at the speed he was improving, he might surpass himself soon enough. Not that she'd ever admit it though...

…Besides, Riku still hadn't actually hit her yet.

Meanwhile, Cloud was on the roof of the house, fighting… well, no-one. To anyone who might see him, he was blindly swinging his sword at non-existent enemies. But if they looked a little closer, they would notice that he had his eyes closed. In his mind, he was thinking back to all the past memories he had. Of Aerith. Of Tifa. Of… Him.

'Sephiroth.' Cloud at that moment threw a swift and powerful strike behind him, only for it to be stopped in it's path. Cloud opened his eyes to see Alucard holding his sword, smiling under that large red hat he wore.

"You could cut someone with that." Cloud relaxed, letting his sword fall to his side as Alucard let go.

"Alucard… Why are you up here? Were you watching me?" Cloud asked, curious as to the vampire's motives.

"I have been watching you since I arrived here. Watching you endlessly torment yourself with the darkness you run away from all the time."

"I am not running away from the darkness."

"Aren't you? Then why haven't you fought him yet?"

"Because of the things he says."

Alucard stopped smiling. "And what words does he utter that poison your heart?"

"Makes you believe that darkness is the only solution."

"Is that all?" Alucard smiled wickedly at Cloud, causing him to look away. "Has his words poisoned your dreams as well?" That caused Cloud to look up. "Cloud. You should not lose faith in your light. The more you believe that your heart is shrouded in darkness, the harder it will get to reach that light you are seeking."

Cloud looked down. "But I don't understand how to believe when I've lost so much." Cloud waited for a reply, but he didn't get one. He looked back up. Alucard was gone.

Sora, however, was following Frank down to the basement of the castle, not knowing what Frank intended to do…

"Well, here we are." Frank uttered. Ahead of them was a wide open basement, with very dim lighting across a stone room, with nothing so much as even a table or a weapon. Completely empty, save for the support pillars at the sides of the room, which were also blank and devoid of any uniqueness to them.

'I hate this place already.' Sora thought to himself.

"Now. No-one will disturb us down here." Frank told Sora.

"Why would we want to avoid company?" Sora asked.

"Because you require a training that is foreign to your friends. You are the only one in your little group that isn't either human, or a pure-blood vampire. Because of that, you did not grow up with the ways of a vampire, but if you wish to continue on with your life from here, then you must be ready to do whatever it takes to survive." Frank drew an old training sword from a sheath hidden behind his coat. "It has been a while since I used a blade, but I am sure my skills have not diminished much, if at all. If you must learn the ways of the vampire, then you shall learn the first, most important one; speed."

"Speed? You mean like running so fast no-one will see you, stuff like that?"

Frank chuckled. "No, Sora. You are nowhere near the level of fighter for that sort of thing, especially a half-blood. But you can learn to move faster than most humans for now, maybe eventually faster than the fastest. Maybe you will naturally accept it, maybe you won't. The only way to know is through battle. Draw your Keyblade."

Sora obliged by drawing his Keyblade and entering an offensive stance.

"Now, the rules to this engagement are simple. No use of any attacks outside swordplay and hand-to-hand. That means no magic tricks, got it?" Sora nodded. "Good. If you wish to hit me Sora, then you will need to move fast. After all, I am a pureblood, and thus I am much faster than you. But speed is not everything. If you mindlessly throw barrages of attacks at your enemy, you only tire yourself out with no real guarantee of any positive outcome as a result. Plan every move you make, Sora. Learn to make snap decisions that count, not ones that just show your weaknesses clear as day to your opponents. Got it?" Sora again nodded in response. "Very well, let us begin."

The two fighters- no, warriors- ran toward each other, ready to clash.

**Chapter End**

**A/N:** WORST. END POINT. EVER. And now comes the inevitable though that I may leave you guys hanging for ages again, but don't worry! I am really sorry for this long wait, and I will make it up to you if I can. For those of you that remained, please continue to have faith in me, I am very grateful for it!


	34. Coming This Week!

After a long wait...

The next update is coming up soon!

And i've got one major series to bring in this episode!

One that has a new game coming out this year and is expected to rock the far east! (one country in particular!)

Expect it within the week!


	35. Training Day

**Chapter 33: Training Day**

Sora, knowing a headfirst dash would do him no good, jumped over Frank in an attempt to attack him from behind. Frank was a little surprised by this manoeuvre, but countered quickly by sticking his blade above the floor where Sora was about to land. Sora, not prepared, landed and quickly lost his footing on the uneven combination of Frank's sword and the floor, and tripped and fell. Frank didn't even turn around fully and instead kept his back to Sora.

"This isn't a game, Sora. Get back up, and this time, don't just focus on where you're going, but also what you will do when you get there."

"What do you mean?" Sora replied. Frank turned to face him.

"Simply put, an enemy will nearly always go for a counter should he see your attack coming. While you must get faster Sora, so must your mind. You must be able to adapt to any situation that appears before you within a split second. There is no point in having all that speed if you can't keep your concentration up. Imagine someone who could move at the speed of light, but someone who was pretty clumsy. They'd just run into every wall they find before they even know it's there."

"I think I understand now..."

"Good, then come at me again. And this time, concentrate."

Sora prepared himself. Standing directly in front of Frank, he decided that he would make an obvious attack, and then change it depending on where Frank went. Sora slightly turned, as if he was going to step back before attacking, but quickly turned and delivered a horizontal slash, but reversed his own attack before he made contact. Frank, who didn't expect this, was already moving to catch Sora's keyblade. He realised what Sora was planning though as soon as Sora had started turning in the other direction. Sora this time went for a downward strike. Frank to dodge away from the incoming strike, but Sora, quickly turned it into a thrust.

'Such an obvious tactic.' Frank thought. He grabbed the end of the keyblade as it came toward him, and using all his strength lifted it, and Sora, up into the air, tossing the lot over his head and letting go. Sora landed headfirst on the stone floor, busting him open.

"I said use your head, Sora, not use tactics that an amateur can do in his sleep." Sora was still dazed and didn't pick up most of what Frank had just said. What Frank didn't know, however, was that Sora was completely out of it. The impact had caused heavy bleeding and Sora was about ready to pass out. With the combination of a frantic need to defend himself, and blind rage, Sora ran screaming at Frank, keyblade in hand. Frank was a little shocked, but not fazed by this turn of events.

'Maybe I should've gone a little easier on him. Maybe I am still getting emotional over what happened with him and Sophie. Nonetheless, let's see if he can still try to fight me in this state.'

Sora took an open swing at Frank. Frank just grabbed him and tossed him back, but only lightly, sending him falling back a few feet. Sora quickly got back up and went at it again, but this time a little faster. Frank still saw it coming however, and just knocked the keyblade out of Sora's hand, before smacking him with the blunt side of his sword and sending him back even further.

"Come on, Sora! Even in this state, you should be better than this!"

Sora threw his Keyblade at Frank as hard as he could, trying to deliver the Strike Raid, a move he hadn't used in years. His throw, strong as it was under the circumstances, was still weakened by Sora's failing state, and Frank easily dodged it, turning to watch it lose momentum and drop to the ground behind him.

As he turned back around however, he was surprised to see Sora was up is face, about to deliver an overhead punch. Frank grabbed his wrist and was about to swing him over again, but Sora saw this coming and instead put his weight into falling, causing him to swing downward and toward Frank. Frank quickly dodged this, still holding Sora's wrist and prepared to punch Sora in his vulnerable face, but Sora surprised Frank again by grabbing Frank's other wrist, preventing Frank from using his sword. With Sora headed to the ground fast, Frank lost his footing slightly, giving Sora an opening. He let go of Frank's wrist and in a split second, called his keyblade to his open hand and swung in the opposite direction.

'Damn it! He's getting the hang of this!' Frank thought quickly and let go of Sora, causing him to begin to fall mid-swing. Frank dodged out of the way to avoid getting hit as Sora fell to the floor yet again, resulting in a moan of pain from Sora as he landed on his already injured head.

Frank was still a little visibly surprised by Sora's sudden burst of speed and tactic, but was not exhausted like Sora was. He calmly walked over to Sora and smiled down on him. "You are full of surprises it would seem, Sora. I did not expect you to pick up such speed in such little time, even for you that is quite a feat."

Sora spun himself upright, but quickly regretted it as he felt really dizzy, and fell to his knees.

"Take a minute to rest, Sora. I think you need it." Frank pulled a blood pack out of his pocket and chucked it to Sora. "Drink up."

The rest of the day proceeded rather slowly, nothing really interesting unfolding between any of the training groups. Riku was however, still having trouble getting used to off-hand fighting, and reluctantly accepted he would have to rely a little more on his pistols.

After a hard day's worth of training, the group met up in the main room to plan ahead.

"Feels kinda weird having a group meeting like this..." Riku commented.

"And where is Alucard? Surely he is involved in this now as well?" Sora asked.

"Hmm... Alucard does what he wants. Besides, he wishes not to become directly involved in affairs, although I have asked him to keep an eye on things in his own world. Kaine and Victor, however, as mentioned before, will be joining you." Frank answered.

"And what about Sophie? Is she rejoining us?" Riku asked.

"Not at this time, as I will be returning to scout duties. Things are picking up speed. The family is moving forward with a new initiative." Sophie answered.

"What Sophie means is that the Family has been expanding its interests into the Milky Way galaxy. Specifically, the Koprulu Sector. Sora, Riku, Cloud, it is unlikely you have heard of this place." Frank said.

"Can't say that we have." Sora added, meaning him and Riku, although Cloud had no knowledge of the place either.

"Well, currently a war is ravaging this place and nearly all of the planets located in the sector. Three races and numerous more factions all vying for their own goals. They are the Zerg, Protoss, and Terran. The Terran are a human race, however they have been split into several factions by corrupt officials and a lot of lies. The main force is the Terran Dominion, and they will most likely be enemies to you. The Zerg, however, are the main problem, as they are the race that have partnered up with the family." Frank explained.

"But it doesn't add up. The family and the Zerg have always been out for number one, and everybody else is just meat. Even weirder is why the family would show interest in this sector, as no matter who wins, they wouldn't have a hope of controlling it, especially if the Zerg emerge victorious. We are still trying to work out what their goal is here, but for now all we can do is watch." Sophie added.

"Which is why you lot won't be getting involved in that battle just yet. Sophie will be heading down herself and meeting up with a batch of rebels to keep an eye on the goings-on in the Koprulu Sector. In the meantime, you boys can do a little cleanup." Frank concluded.

He opened up a map showing several new worlds to Sora and Riku. Some new, some old. "Take your pick. They all have an infestation problem. Your job is to clean them out." Frank rolled up the map again and handed it to Sora. "I'll contact you if anything comes up. Don't expect me though unless it's urgent. If you need to contact me, the location of this mansion can now be found on your Gummi anytime you need to restock or just rest. You're welcome anytime."

"Thanks, Frank." Sora bowed, and then turned to his new team; Himself, Riku, Cloud, Kaine and Victor. "Well guys, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Sora ran off toward the mansion door, but Riku stopped him.

"And just where are we going, Captain?" Riku asked. Sora pulled out the map and chose at random.

"Here!" He pointed to a Victorian-style town with a large tall clock tower standing proud from it. "Old London Town..."

"Well then, now we can get going." The group walked with Sora this time, toward the door.

"You know, we could have picked when we got in the Gummi, Riku." Sora commented.

"Oh, hush, you..." Riku answered back as they walked off.

After Sora and the gang had left, Sophie turned toward Frank and asked "Are you sure we shouldn't just tell them?"

"They'll find out for themselves soon enough. Besides, they don't need such information bogging them down at the moment. It's best they find out when the time is right." Frank turned to head back to his study. "Now get going, Mr. Raynor is waiting for you." She turned to head towards the door herself. As she walked through, she uttered one last thing:

"I hope you know what you're doing, brother."

**Chapter End**

**A/N:** STARCRAFT! OMG! Who guessed it? Anyone? What I doubt anyone didn't guess however was that last part. So, was the wait worth it? **(My conscience: NO!)** Review and tell me what you think!


	36. Sorry, guys AUTHORS NOTE

Hey everyone, it's me here again, with some bad news.

4 years... That's how long it's taken me to get 30 or so chapters of my story written. And they're not even that long to be honest. I've been thinking about this story for a long time, and the truth is, I've always had the ideas of where I want the story to go, but I'm finally starting to accept the plain truth: it will never get finished. The story I wanted to write is just way too long.

So I'm not gonna beat a dead horse anymore. **This story is officially on hiatus, and will likely never be continued.**

I mean, let's take a look at things. Much as I hate to admit, I did look to reviews to keep me going, and while there were a lot of nice reviews, they were few in-between. About 1 or 2 reviews on average per chapter, and my last chapter got nada. I know it sounds a little selfish, but it is nice to know people are reading your stuff.

And as I said earlier... it's been 4 years. With the amount I have put out, that is WAY too little. I'm not surprised that I didn't get any reviews for the last chapter: clearly people are sick and tired of waiting around. I know I am. Sick and tired of waiting for my own stupid self to get out of this endless writers block. Yeah, I was in college for the first two of those years, but I've also been mostly unemployed for the last 2 years, so really there was no excuse.

So is that the end of me? Well, maybe not.

Recently I've been writing an Alternate Universe fics for Kingdom Hearts. At first it was just meant to be (like another private one-shot I wrote) but the words are pouring out of me faster than they did for Unbreakable Curse. Hopefully, I'm on to something, and I am, then I may post it up here.

But that's only if I can push myself to get the story kicking off. That probably means I won't start uploading chapters until I'm well into the story (maybe halfway) so I at least know where I'm going, and if I can finish it within a decent timeline.

So that all I have to say about this. If anyone out there still reads this and are saddened by this news, I do apologise. Feel free to review this chapter and tell me your thoughts, or hell, review the whole story is you want. I will read them, promise.

By the way, I wanted to use this chance to plug some fics on this website that inspired me to start writing myself. They may not be similar in style or even plot, but they were the ones I had to finish reading.

Kingdom Hearts: The Third Epic/Final Confrontation (LordCavendish)  
.net/u/773314/LordCavendish

The Interference (Newbie-Spud)  
.net/u/1092556/

Court Of Souls (Rem-chan)  
.net/s/1222780/1/

Multiple Stories (Vash's Girl) (Note: Yaoi fics inside)  
.net/u/67702/Vashs_Girl

And lastly, a special thanks to LordCavendish. By far the best fanfic i have ever read from start to finish, and a great guy who got me through the early stages of writing this fic. Thanks buddy.

See ya real soon!


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